His Light
by markergal
Summary: Alice Oliver has something many people during the apocalypse don't have: immunity. She is bit by her brother who just happened to be infected. Alice is incredibly relieved she survives the bite and didn't turn into a walker. But will the rest of her group feel the same way once they figure out she's bit?
1. Chapter 1

**I originally had this posted on Wattpad but I felt like I would be able to get more feedback on here. I hope you enjoy it!**

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The audience screams in delight as columns of light fly every which way. Families chat to each other in excited voices, all anticipating what will happen next. People bought their tickets to this event weeks in advance. This circus has a reputation of having highly skilled professionals do difficult stunts. For weeks they have traveled around the country on a tour, only to end in Atlanta, Georgia. Alice Oliver is sad that their tour has come to an end. Performing alongside of her friends is just such a wonderful experience that she always dreads the end of the tour.

Far below on the ground, parents guide their child's eyes toward Alice as she stands on a platform high above the ground. Any normal person would be terrified to be this high, but not her. Sure, she looks like your average girl: short brown hair, regular blue eyes, and a little shorter than average height. Mentally, that is a whole another story. Believe it or not, Alice lives for the danger that comes with her job. She likes the feeling of falling only to be saved at the last-minute. She likes the adrenaline she feels every time she's high above the ground. Most of all, she likes the feeling of being free. Free from all the noise and chaos of the world.

Whether she is swinging from bars or standing on a tightrope, Alice is in her own bubble. She is in her own world when she is high above the earth.

Alice licks her lips with anticipation. She picks up the long bar and looks down at the crowd. Many, many feet below children are screaming in delight while their parents are munching away on cotton candy and popcorn. To the far side of the large tent, Jackson starts the music as Alice's cue to begin her walk across the large gap between the platforms. She sets her foot confidently on the wire. Once she has her balance, she places her other then so on.

The bar sways a little as she shifts her weight side to side. Nevertheless, she keeps on walking. Not even the shrieks from children can distract her now. Her eyes focus on the other platform and steadily stay there. They never waver for a second.

"She's something. Ain't she?" Jackson says with awe. He stares up at her glittering purple dress that glows in the artificial lights. Even though he is far below her, he can still make out a small smile playing on Alice's red painted lips.

"You can say that" Mr. Velvet says gruffly before fixing his purple vest. "Last week she was threatening to skin my girl alive after poor Caroline took a bite out of her dress. Not even a large tear and she's complaining about how she almost lost her leg"

Jackson laughs a little before staring at his father who has bright green eyes like his own. "It's her fault that she walked to close to the tiger. She knows that Caroline doesn't let anyone near her except you"

Mr. Velvet laughs a little then looks back up at Alice, who is already three-fourths of the way across. She quickly spins around, much to the crowd's surprise, and starts walking the rest of the way backwards. Every time Alice does this, Mr. Velvet holds his breath. He out of everyone should know how talented Alice is, but he can't help but think she is about to fall at any second.

"My, my. If Alice didn't have the skill she has, I would've fired her years ago. She's a lot to put up with" Mr. Velvet says, unable to take his eyes off of Alice.

"You got that right. She never stops talking with that mouth of hers"

"Sometimes she just needs to learn when to close that mouth and open her ears" Mr. Velvet says cheerily.

Jackson just nods and stares up at Alice in amazement. "I think the only time I've seen her keep her mouth shut was when she was twenty feet off the ground" Jackson says causing Mr. Velvet to start to laugh hard.

Jackson still remembers the first day he saw her. She was covered in mud head from toe and begging for a job. His dad, also known to many as Mr. Velvet, just smiled and pointed to a small set up with a tightrope two yards off the ground. He said 'If you can walk that rope, I'll give you the job. If you can't, I give you a warm cup of tea then send you on your way'. Alice got right up on the tightrope and walked all the way across in record time. She was born to be high in the air.

The crowd goes absolutely wild when she reaches the second platform. She bows then starts to head down the large, rusty ladder, back to the ground. Alice frowns once her feet touch the dirt. This will be the last time for a long time that she will walk across a tightrope. Her heart starts to collapse in sadness. If she didn't know better it felt like her whole family died. She quickly walks towards the tent flap with Jackson hot on her tail.

"Hey, Alice! You were great!" Jackson quickly follows the short girl in the even shorter dress. He is currently using all his willpower not to look at the wrong places; for fear that he will face her wrath. The last time she caught him looking at her like that, she set Caroline loose in his hotel room. How she managed to sneak a tiger pass hotel security, he will never know.

"Thank you, Jackson. But really, it wasn't anything special. Just a normal routine" she turns and smiles at him. "I do it every night". Alice breaks eye contact then starts walking towards the employee section in the circus. There, guests are blocked off so the employees like Alice can have a little peace from the crowd. She plops down into a fold out chair and Jackson sits on the ground next to her. Alice raises one brown eyebrow at him.

"What?"

''You are sitting in the dirt for goodness sakes! Sit in a chair like a human being!" Alice scolds Jackson.

"But I want to sit by you Miss Oliver" Jackson says with his southern accent becoming clear. Alice was born in Wisconsin but moved to Georgia when she was just a teenager. Much to her disappointment, she never acquired the darling southern accent.

"You can pull a chair over, silly" Alice lightly teases him. Jackson just pouts and grabs the nearest fold out chair and throws it next to her own. He grumbles a little as he opens the chair wider and sits down. Alice flutters her dark eyelashes at him and smiles an audience-worthy smile.

"See, that wasn't so hard. Was it? It's not that hard setting up a fold up chair" she says innocently.

"You're lucky you're a woman, otherwise I would've smacked you a long time ago because of that attitude you have". He crosses his arms then glares at Alice. However, he can't keep it for long.

Alice lightly slaps Jackson's arm and lifts her eyebrows in a teasing way. Jackson can't help but stare into her bright blue eyes and then moves his eyes down to her bright red lips. His sister Jerry picked the right kind of shade that she believed would 'bring out her eyes'. God was she right.

"We all know you couldn't hurt a fly. You're too sweet". She laughs a little before heading to a small cooler sitting next to the tent. Even though they were outside, they could both hear the chanting of the audience, begging whoever was performing to keep going.

Alice grabs a water bottle then tosses one at Jackson, who just happens to drop it because of his lack of coordination.

"I'm not sweet! I'm manly". He tries to puff out his chest to prove his point, but just ends up proving Alice's. Jackson was never muscular or even remotely athletic. He dropped out of school early and doesn't even have a high school diploma. During those short years he never joined any sports and he was never naturally athletic.

Alice's tries to hide her laughter in an attempt to protect Jackson's feelings. Her short little laughs comes silently in her hand as she turns away, pretending to be interested in something else.

Finally she looks over her shoulder and looks Jackson right in the eye. "You're right, you're the manliest man there is" Alice sighs then looks down at the ground. "You are one of the best guys I have ever met". Her voice sounds genuine, because it is. Alice has dated her fair share of jerks and douchebags. The only guy that was truly kind to her, other than Jackson, was a serial killer. But that's a story for another time.

She turns around and starts fidgeting with her bottle of water. Her small hands try to turn off the cap but she can't seem to get a grip.

"Here, let me" Jackson come right up behind her and places he arms on either side of her. Her back against his chest, he slowly unscrews the water bottle. Despite all of her instincts telling her otherwise, Alice looks up at Jackson. His bright green eyes, even though it is already starting to become dark, shine at her. Jackson's long blond hair sways in the breath, along with her own chin-length hair.

As if in a daze, they both touch their lips together only for a moment. Jackson is the first to pull away. He unlocks his arms around her and then shakes his head in shock. Jackson steps back, uncertain, and starts to stutter, "I... I-I'm so sorry, Alice. I-I-I never meant-t to come onto y-you lik-ke that"

She looks at the ground, unsure of herself. For years she has worked with Jackson, but she has never thought of him anything more than colleague or a good friend. Alice looks up to see Jackson starting to turn around. Her heart breaks. She can't stand to see him so flustered and unsure of himself. Doing the only thing she could think of, Alice runs towards him and grabs his face. She pushes it to hers until their lips touch. Because Jackson is at least a foot taller than her, Alice has to stand on her tip toes.

Their lips move in synch as her hands explore Jackson's hair. Hers are moving systematically and practically while Jackson's are moving wildly, showing his inexperience with this sort of thing.

They both break apart and Alice starts to laugh when she sees his face.

Jackson's face drops and he starts to blush. "Was I that bad?"

"No, silly. It's just... you seem to have more lipstick on then I do". It's true, lipstick is now lining Jackson's lips and smudged along his cheeks. He looks like a clown that just can't seem to do his makeup right.

Alice licks her thumb then starts to wipe off the lipstick slowly and carefully.

"What are you doing to my son's face?" Mr. Velvet says as he steps out of the tent. As soon as they heard his voice they step far apart from each other. He eyes both of them carefully before walking closer. Mr. Velvet frowns at Alice and Jackson then raises a white eyebrow. He leans in a little closer then shines a flashlight right at Jackson's face. "Are you wearing... lipstick?"

Jackson's eyes go wide and he starts to shake his head wildly. He doesn't dare speak a word to his father because he knows that his voice will betray him.

''Jackson, I need you to feed my Caroline. She's been getting a little rowdy lately and needs someone to calm her down. Scaring some of the kids up there. Don't want any government official or anything like that taking away my Caroline"

Jackson starts walking towards the tiger cage just as audience members begin to spill out of the tent. Each one is gushing with amazement as they tell their family and friends about what their favorite part of the performance was.

"You can head back home now. We don't need your help in packing everything up and I'm sure your family has missed you while you were on tour. Oh, and Alice, sweetheart, your lipstick is a little smudged" Mr. Velvet says as if it's the most normal thing in the world to say.

Her eyes go as wide as the moon as she viciously wipes her mouth, trying to hide any evidence of the kiss. She quickly turns away and practically runs to her car in embarrassment. Her cheeks are blushing a bright red similar to the shade of an apple.

She rips open her car which she foolishly left unlocked. Alice was never one to lock her car or let alone her front door. She thinks it might have to do with her overly trusting nature.

Her small, sad excuse for a car, sputters out of the gravel parking lot to the road back into Atlanta. She passes several army vehicles but thinks nothing of it. Further down the road, they become more frequent and Alice starts to wonder why they are all here.

Inside of her purse her phone begins to making a dinging noise, notifying her that she received a text message.

"Alice, have some self-control. You know what mom would say if she saw you on your phone while driving". She grips the steering wheel tightly. Her phone dings again and Alice just can't resist herself from taking one little peek. She leans down for her purse sitting underneath the passenger seat. Her hand just about reaches it when she hears loud skidding noises and yells.

Her mouth lets out a scream against her will as she tries to avoid the shining headlights in front of her. Alice's right foot slams on the brake and she turns the wheel as an attempt to not kill whoever is in front of her. Fortunately she missed the two men on the motorcycles. Unfortunately now her car is in the ditch.

The two motorcycles stop a little further down the road. Two tall men get off and stare at Alice's car. They both start stalking towards her car with the look of death on their faces.

"Oh god, they're going to kill me, oh god!" Her mind races to what her boyfriend, the one who unfortunately was murderer, told her about self-defense. He told Alice that she is too small to aim for the head. Instead, she should go for the stomach or groin area. Graham also said that her elbows will be her best bet of winning a fight.

They reach her window and glare down at her as she just smiles up at them. Alice waves a little which made the smaller man on the right to smirk a bit. The taller, scarier guy on the left was another matter. Her innocent little gesture seemed to aggravate him even more.

"Roll down your damn window" Merle grits through his teeth. Merle has every right to be angry. Alice nearly killed him and Daryl as they were trying to escape the city. The only reason they were in Atlanta was to get supplies and then head out. They both need to get as far away from the city as possible to avoid the infected.

Alice hesitantly meets his demands and rolls down her window halfway. "I'm so, so sorry. I didn't see either of you" she says through the small gap in the window.

The man on the right tilts his head and squints his eyes. "Are you trying to tell us that you didn't see two shiny beams of light that were right in front of you?"

Alice looks into his beady eyes. He stares back at her, challenging her to blink first. "I'm really sorry... if there are any damages I will gladly pay for it. What's your insurance information?" she starts to dig in her glove compartment for a notepad and a pen.

"Honey, if you haven't noticed, money won't mean shit in a little while" the taller man snarls at Alice. He leans down so that he is face to face to her. He looks down at her clothes and his mouth turns into an even more evil grin. "I'm sure you can pay us in... another kind of way"

Her mouth falls open at his crudeness. Unconscious she pulls her dress higher on her chest and longer on her legs.

Daryl grabs Merle's shirt then drags him away from Alice's earshot. She stares at them uneasily through the car window as they bicker with each other.

Daryl points at his brother Merle with a large frown. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Just making conversation" Merle says with a smirk climbing on his face.

Daryl jabs a finger at Merle's chest. "You don't talk to people that way. End of the fucking world or na"

Merle glares at Daryl then snarls back, "I could care less what you say, little brother. I can say what I want to whoever I want! Plus, did you see what she was wearing? It's like taunting a dog with a hunk of meat"

Daryl drags Merle back to their bikes and reaches into a side pack. He grabs large knife then starts walking back to Alice's car. Inside her little metal cage, Alice begins to feel like a mouse stuck in a trap. She starts to roll up her windows and lock the doors as soon as she sees the man walk towards her with the large knife. Not being able to control herself, she starts hyperventilating more and more with every step that he takes.

"Now where do you think you're going with my knife?" Merle yells at Daryl.

Daryl turns around to face Merle. He holds up the knife. "That woman", he then points towards the car where Alice is sitting restlessly in, "Has no clue what is about to happen. She is heading right towards Atlanta where all the infected are. I'm just being a decent human being and giving her something to defend herself with"

"You don't know that! For all we know she has a gun in there, just waiting for us to let our guard down and raid our stuff!" Merle yells back. Daryl just turns around and walks back towards Alice. "Daryl, turn around now!" Merle yells in aggravation.

Daryl doesn't glance back but keeps his eye on the scared woman in the car. She will much more scared once she sees the geeks in Atlanta. He is hoping that maybe he will give her a chance by giving her this knife. She doesn't look like the kind of girl who can fight off the 'undead' with just her bare hands. She also doesn't look like that kind of girl to carry around a gun with her. Even though she is a total stranger, he cannot let her go into Atlanta undefended.

Daryl looks at the car and now realizes the window is now rolled all the way up and the woman's eyes keep flickering between his face and the knife. He sighs as he comes to the conclusion of what this probably looks like.

"Look, I'm not going to hurt you" Daryl says. His voice sounds muffled inside of the car but Alice can still make out what he said.

Alice refuses to answer. She keeps her eyes on the man.

He raises his hands in defeat and sets the knife down in the ditch next to the car. "I want you to take it. You're going to need it once you get into Atlanta, trust me". He starts to walk away but then changes his mind and comes up close to the car. He raises his dirty hand to his head and points right between his eyebrows. "Always aim for the head"

Alice looks at him confused. In her state of shock she lets him walk away without getting a proper answer. Realizing this, she quickly opens the door and steps out into the road, staring after the two men as they get back on their motorcycle. "What do you mean by aim for their head?" she yells towards them curiously.

He just winks at her before starting his motorcycle. Daryl shouts over the sound of the engine, "You'll know what I mean when the time comes. It's not something I can explain without you thinking I belong in the loony bin. It's something gotta see for yourself". With that, both of the men ride off, leaving Alice in their dust.

Alice shakes her head and walks back to her car. She picks up the large knife that seems foreign in her hands. She has never held or let alone see a knife this large and it scares her. Her gut is telling her to turn it into the police and tell them that there is a crazy, knife wielding redneck on the loose, but a side of her feels like he had a point, even if she doesn't know it yet.

"What the hell does he mean by that" she whispers to herself. She looks off into horizon at the tall buildings of Atlanta. She will just have to see for herself.


	2. Chapter 2

Alice hesitantly starts her car as she ponders over what the man said to her. Not only were his words causing Alice to stress out but they made her question his sanity. Alice pounds the steering wheel in frustration. She highly doubts the she will get out of this ditch without a tow truck!

She floors the gas pedal and dirt flies from the wheels. Slowly but surely her car inches back up to the road and heads towards her beloved city: Atlanta. It looks exactly the same as it had when she came here with her family ten years ago. Her mother was diagnosed with cancer when Alice was young. Her family moved to Atlanta so that she can get the best medical care her mother can get.

Alice finally reaches the suburbs of the city and begins to recoil at the terror she sees before her. There are people crying on the street while others are packing everything they own into their cars before leaving. Soldiers guard every street with their fingers twitching towards the trigger at every sound. Everyone looks terrified.

Alice begins to mentally freak out and starts going faster down the street. She barely notices where everyone is and in her state of mind, she could've run someone over and not noticed. Soon the amount of people and soldiers slow down until it is only her on the road. Of course, she doesn't notice this. She doesn't even notice the warning signs and the dead lying in the alleyways with bullets in their foreheads. All Alice can think about is getting home to her family.

She drives up to a small house on one of the outer neighborhoods of Atlanta. Alice is just about to get out, but then she looks toward the large knife in the passenger seat. Her fragile hands pick it up shakily and she takes a deep breath. The knife shakes in her grip but she keeps her fingers wound around the handle tightly. Alice steps out of the car and starts moving in a defensive stance, keeping the knife in front of her.

"I look like an idiot right now, I look like an idiot" she repeats to herself as she slowly makes her way to the door. She's sure if her neighbors looked out their front window they would call the nearest mental hospital because of how Alice looks now.

Alice grabs the door handle to the front door. She takes one last look around her before slipping inside the dark house.

Alice slides her hand along the wall until she reaches the light switch. The electricity is down so the house still stays as dark and eerie as ever. She then walks to the windows and lets in the natural light. For some reason blankets and sheets cover all the windows in the house.

"Mom? Dad? Paul?" Alice begins to frantically look around the house until she comes upon a piece of paper lying on the kitchen table. On it are messy sentences written by her mother. Alice can barely make out the words because of how quickly they were written.

_Alice, I pray that you get this letter and that you haven't been infected like your brother Paul. It has gotten bad in Atlanta. Too bad. We couldn't wait any longer for you so we had to leave. Your father and I are joining a group with your Uncle Dale. We are meeting on the freeway leading out of Atlanta. We will stay there until tonight. If you are not there by tomorrow morning we will assume that you are infected and leave Atlanta for good._

_Your father and I hope that you get this. You are a strong girl. We trust that you will find us. Please, be safe._

_(P.S. Your father couldn't finish the job for Paul. We locked Paul in the garage. Please be careful and don't let him out)_

Alice's eyes cautiously wander over to the door that leads to the garage. It is wide open. She starts breathing a little harder from anxiety until she hears footsteps coming down a hallway. She covers her mouth and listens carefully to the footsteps.

Thump. Thump. Thump. It sounds like someone is limping right into the kitchen where Alice is standing. Alice dives behind the kitchen island and holds her breath as what used to be Paul passes by. She peaks over the counter to see him wearing the shirt that she gave him for Christmas. Paul's left foot is severed off and blood is covering his jeans. His skin is turning grey and his fingers bend in odd, unnatural angles. Alice tries to hold in her tears, but she can't stop them at the sight of her beloved brother.

'Paul' turns around and makes a loud groan when he notices Alice's sobs. Her hands start to grip the knife. Paul starts to limp towards her, his mouth is wide open. His finger nails are bleeding, probably from scratching the garage door.

Alice starts to grip the knife so tight that her knuckles turn white. She backs away as he comes closer and closer.

"You aren't Paul, are you?" Alice says carefully. It starts walking towards her at a faster pace than before, trying to get a hold of her hair.

Alice dodges its grab and runs behind the living room couch. "You're not Paul!" she screams at the top of her lungs, gaining some attention from her 'neighbors' that are in the backyard. How Alice never noticed them in the first place, she doesn't know. They start banging on the slide glass window and making noises that are eerily similar to what Paul sounds like. He stalks her across the room and lunges at her. Without hesitation, Alice stabs him right in the abdomen with the knife.

Paul drops to the ground and Alice steps away with tears streaming down her face. Alice is reacting just as any human being who just stabbed their brother would react. She sets the knife back on the kitchen table begins to fold the letter from her parents and place it in her pocket. Alice is just about to turn around to leave when 'Paul' lunges for her arm. His teeth dig into her skin. Alice doesn't anything but scream. She tries to pull away from him but he only bites harder.

She tries to pull his head back to get him away from her but she isn't strong enough. Paul releases her with a chunk of her arm still in his teeth. He then lunges back at her but this time her neck.

As if an angel coming down from heaven, she remembers the strange man telling her to aim for the head. Alice grabs the knife off the table and stabs him right between the eyes.

'Paul' falls limp and crumples down to the floor. Black goo oozes out of the wound in his head. The stench is so strong that she has to cover her nose to keep herself from vomiting.

Alice leans over and pulls the knife out of her brother's head. Since she only has one uninjured arm, it is a much more difficult task than someone would think. She pulls out the knife and wipes it off on her dress.

She is now just starting to feel the pain. The adrenaline rush is wearing off and reality is crashing down. The skin around the bite starts to sting and the wound begins to feel like it's burning. If all that wasn't bad enough, she is bleeding out quickly.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit" Alice says as she tries to stop the bleeding. She grabs a tablecloth and wraps it around the wound. "What are you guys?" she says as she looks out of the window to others like Paul starting to congregate around the glass door, all of them looking hungrily at Alice.

"I'm going to call you biters for now. Damn biters" she swears at them. Alice grabs her knife and races up the stairs. She steps into the bathroom and looks for anything that can help her. In the corner of the medicine cabinet is gauze neatly wrapped in a little roll. She quickly messes up its careful organization and wraps it around the tablecloth which is now soaked in blood. "I really wish I went to college to become a doctor instead of joining the circus" she mumbles to herself.

Even though she is unsatisfied with her attempt to be her own doctor, she has to get out of this house. The biters downstairs might get inside. She doesn't want ten more Paul's to try to take a chunk out of her.

Alice grabs her childhood backpack and stuffs the rest of the medicine in the cabinet into the bag. She then grabs some clothes and a picture of the family back when everyone was happy. Before mom got sick. Before the Atlanta turned into crazy city. Alice reaches behind all of her gymnastic ribbons and trophies to show a tin can stuffed with money. She drops it in the bag which is already full.

She was just about to head downstairs when the glass door shatters into pieces. Downstairs are a bunch of biters searching for Alice so they can make her their own lunch. She quietly closes the bed door and opens her window. There is no possible way that she will get past the biters downstairs so she will have to jump. Since she is on the second floor, the drop is kind of high, but nothing she can't handle.

Even though she has fallen many times, Alice doesn't have much practice with landing. All the other times that she has fallen, she was caught by either someone else or a net. The only thing that's going to catch her this time is the ground. The hard unforgiving ground.

She lifts her legs over the window sill and throws the backpack down to the ground. Seconds later, she joins it. Instead of landing nicely like she was hoping, she ended up falling over and into a bush. Her once sparkly purple dress is now muddy and full of blood. She isn't quite sure if it's Paul's, her own, or a mix of both. Her shoes are torn and almost unfit to walk in. Not only are her clothes a mess, but so are her ankles. By the second they begin to swell and ache from the terrible fall.

No matter these set-backs, Alice stands up and grabs her bag. She limps toward her car and is just at the door when other biters on the street notice her presence. Alice backs out of the driveway, running one over in the process, and begins to drive out of Atlanta.

All around the roads she can see biters lining the streets. Some people are screaming for help and running for their lives. No matter how much Alice wants to help, she can't. Nothing in the world will make her stop this car after what she just saw.

Right as she gets on the freeway, her car starts beeping. Alice tries to ignore it but eventually looks down on the dashboard only to find that she is low on gas. After a couple of miles of running purely on fumes, the car roles to a stop.

Tears start rolling down her face uncontrollably. "No! No, no, no, no, no! This CAN'T be happening to me!" she shrieks. Alice then starts smacking the steering wheel, taking out all her anger on the car. The stupid car that left her for dead. If there is any hope that she of finding her parents and Uncle Dale, she will have to walk.

Alice wipes her eyes and then puts on jeans and a sweatshirt that her dad gave her a couple of years ago. It was an old sweatshirt that he found at a thrift shop, but it was all they could afford.

Up ahead helicopters fly by, lighting up Atlanta with bombs. She turns around and tears start to fill Alice's eyes as she sees her beloved city crumble into pieces. Alice sets the knife in the backpack so she can walk better and rolls her ankles a bit to loosen them up. She turns away and starts walking forward as confident as she possibly can.

After what seems like hours of limping across the freeway, she sees an RV, several motorcycles, and a jeep sitting on the side of the road. Four people are sitting outside of the RV and Alice can see movement inside of the vehicle.

Two kids are playing checkers as a woman and a man watch over them protectively. The woman points a flashlight towards her and the man raises a gun. He sets the gun so he is aiming right at her head, but Alice is doing her best to ignore it.

"Excuse me, but what is going on?" Alice asks. It was an honest enough answer. She doesn't have a clue what is happening and why Paul decided to eat her, so rationally she would want some answers.

The man just glares at her but the woman gives Alice a kind smile.

"We are just waiting for a group to be ready before we head out. My name is Carol; this is my husband Ed, my daughter Sophia, and Carl"

Ed turns his harsh gaze towards his wife. Carol looks up at her husband with wide eyes, afraid of what he is going to do. Ed is just about to open his mouth to say something to her but Alice interrupts him.

"My name is Alice Oliver, and I didn't mean what you were doing out here. I meant what is going on with everybody! What is wrong with Atlanta?" Alice says a little too sharply.

Everyone's face turns white as they hear her name, completely disregarding her questions. The group looks at each other warily before setting their eyes back to Alice.

Carol walks towards her and sets her hand on Alice's shoulder. She looks at her in pity. "Are your mother and father John and Tiffany Oliver?"

Alice gives everyone a sideways glance as her heart starts to quicken. "Yes they are? How do you know them?"

The girl name Sophia lets out a little sob and Alice's eyes start to water because of her reaction. Something bad must've happened that caused her to react this way.

"They told us... they told us that if we saw you to tell you that they won't be joining you and Dale. They were bit earlier today" Carol looks at me with sympathy.

She looks around confused. "What do you mean by bit?" Alice has no clue what they mean but based on how Paul attacked her, she has a pretty good idea.

Ed steps forwards and starts glaring at Alice. He pulls his wife a little further away from Alice protectively and doesn't put down his gun. He then says to her in a snide voice. "It means that you have been bit by a walker". He stares at her face and then begins to look at her weird. "You know what will happen if you're bit, right?"

"No, actually I don't"

Ed sighs as if it's a burden for him to explain anything to Alice. "First, you get the fever. Next, you turn into a raging lunatic, trying to eat everyone in sight! One bite or scratch from those suckers and you're a goner"

Alice's mind instantly thinks to the bite on my arm. She can't help but that is she going to become a biter like Paul? Her hand wraps around the arm with the bite.

Ed sees her face then does his best to attempt to make me feel better. He has no clue that she is bit but thinks that she is just upset because she now knows what happened to her parents

"Your parents were braver than anyone I ever knew. A couple of people from our group put them down back in those woods". Ed points back towards a set of trees. Though it was meant to calm Alice down, these words only upset her more. Now tears are threatening to exit her eyes but she keeps them in. She wants to be strong for mom and dad.

The couple look at her sadly before going off into their own conversation. They keep glancing over at her with a worried expression.

She sits next to the children on the back of the truck. Ed and Carol both stiffen a little but calm down when they see that Alice is only talking to the children.

"Did you see any walkers in Atlanta?" the boy asks curiously.

"What are walkers?" Alice asks.

"They're what everyone in Atlanta is, or was. I saw them drop the bombs" Sophia says quietly.

Alice looks down and examines the checker board. Sophia is close to winning. "Oh, you mean the biters?" Alice asks curiously.

Carol laughs a little and sighs. She walks behind her daughter and sets a hand on her shoulder. "I guess you could call them that. I've heard them be called many things. Walkers, biters, even geeks"

"Are we going or not? This whole group thing isn't going to work if we all die by getting eaten alive by some geeks" a voice that is vaguely familiar yells out as he exits the RV.

"'Specially if there are children and women to slow us all down" snarls another familiar voice. Alice looks towards the RV to see the scary men that she met on the highway just a couple of hours ago. They both look at her without recognition and just glare at her. All they see is a short, dirty girl in a very ugly sweatshirt. Her once perfect makeup is smeared to resemble a circus clown and her hair is in a tangled mess. Alice looks very much different from when they first saw her.

The smaller man who gave Alice the knife just throws his hands in the air in annoyance. "You invited someone else? There are already too many people in this group"

"She's not joining our group" Ed says gruffly. Alice's face turns bleach white as she begins to realize that these people are not going to help her.

Alice tries to hide the surprise on her face. Instead she looks at the two men with the motorcycles and puts on her 'audience face'. Her lips curve up in a bright smile and her eyes shine. "Nice to see you two again".

The both look at her confused until she pulls out the large knife from her backpack. The taller man's face turns to a scowl and he walks over to her.

"Give me back my knife." Merle says angrily as the Daryl just looks at her in surprise. He never expected her to get out of Atlanta alive.

Alice scowls and holds the knife closer to herself. "No! You gave it to me"

Merle frowns and starts stomping towards her. "That was my little idiot brother, not me toots!"

She starts to back away slowly and hold the knife in front of her while trying to look intimidating. Based on his expression, he wasn't amused. The shorter man, however, is smiling away like it's the funniest thing ever. In fact, Daryl thought that the girl looked hilarious. The knife looks too big for her body and Daryl thinks it is especially amusing that she thinks she would be able to take a man like Merle down. They are no match.

Merle grabs her wrist, causing Alice to drop the knife. He pulls his arm back, about to punch Alice until an old hand pulls him back.

Dale was sitting in the RV with the rest of the group, planning out their next course of action, when he heard her yell. Instantly he rushed out only to see the small girl about to be punched by Merle.

"Merle that is not a wise decision" Dale says calmly. He looks at the scared girl who is trying to pry Merle's hand off her tiny arm. Daryl come up from behind and pulls Merle off her.

By now everyone has come out to see what was happening. Lori is holding on Shane's arm for dear life as Shane pulls Carl behind him. Jacqui, Jim, Andrea, Amy and several other people who Dale still hasn't found out their names are standing on the road.

Alice turns her head away from everyone. She is ashamed that she wasn't strong enough to defend herself. How is she supposed to life in a post-apocalyptic world without being able to protect herself?

"My name is Dale. What's yours?" Dale whispers kindly.

Alice sniffles and wipes away the tears streaming down her face. She looks up in surprise as she sees a face she hasn't seen in years. "Uncle Dale?"

Dale's face lights up as he begins to recognize Alice. The last time he saw her was when she just moved to Atlanta. She has definitely grown and matured since then. Dale starts to move his arms toward her as a hug but decides not to. They haven't seen each other in about five years and haven't even held a conversation for longer than a couple minutes.

"Oh my. Alice". He gives Alice a look of pity before guiding her towards the RV. "I'm so sorry about my sister and your father. If you want, you can stay here with me and the rest of the group".

Several people groan, including Daryl. Alice is just another mouth to feed to them. Alice can't help but feel selfish when she smiles and nod at Dale. All she will be doing is killing each and every one of them once she turns into a biter, or a walker like the children said.

"We don't even know if she's infected or not" Shane yells as he holds Lori and Carl close to him. He doesn't the new girl to hurt any of them. He barely trusted the new group that they formed, so why would he trust her?

Dale turns to Alice and rolls his eyes. "Are you bit?"

"No". The lie rolls easily off of Alice's tongue. She scares herself by being so willing to lie to these people who took the liberty of letting her join their group. '_I will tell them once the fever hits_' she thinks as she entered the RV. _'Once the fever hits, I will tell them and allow someone to stab me in the head or something, because I am not turning into a biter like Paul'_.

Dale leads her to a seat in the back and hands her a bottle of water. He then leaves her in the back so that he can sit in the drivers seat. People start to file into the RV and others start-up their own vehicles. After several tries, Dale gets the RV to start-up and soon enough they are on the road.

Alice looks over to an African-American man who is staring at her curiously. She smiles a little and looks back at him.

"What's your name?" she asks curiously. If she is going to be staying with these people for a while, she might as well know their name.

"T-Dog". Alice furrows her eyebrows after he says his name with a completely straight face. It must be a nickname or something because Alice cannot think of a single person that would seriously consider T-Dog as a name for their child.

Alice nods before looking out the window again. She looks over at the woods that Ed told her that her parents died in. She kisses her hand and presses it up against the window as a sort of tribute to her lost family.

"I love you mom, dad, and Paul. May you rest in peace."


	3. Chapter 3

The RV and the rest of the vehicles pull into a stop on the side of a dirt road that overlooks Atlanta. There are no biters roaming around and it seems safe enough. They are right next to a quarry and some woods to give the group some natural cover from the elements. The view is just so beautiful it almost makes everyone forget about the horror of the last twenty-four hours. Almost being the key word.

T-Dog and some other people exit the RV and begin to scope out the area. Daryl and Merle start to enter the woods with guns loaded and a crossbow ready. Everyone will be on edge until they are sure that it is safe here. Even then Alice doubts it will be enough for people to be able to relax.

"Nice here, huh?" Dale says as he loads his own rifle. "I passed by it several times when I went camping. I thought it would be perfect here. It's far enough from the city to be safe from the infected, close enough to get what we need"

"It's beautiful. I just hope it's safe" Alice says quietly. Dale just nods and begins to exit the RV. He stops right by the door of the RV and looks back at his niece.

"It looks safe enough. It's too far from Atlanta for hoards to come" Dale analyzes. He looks over at Alice when she exits the RV and feels a sharp pain in his heart. She looks just like his sister. His sister that had to die in the woods with her husband. He promised her that he will keep Alice safe, so he will do just that. He cocks the gun and then joins the rest of the group in scoping the area.

The warm breeze blows back Alice's sweat and dirt filled hair. She can't help but think that she would kill for a shower now. Alice sits on the ground next to the two kids, Sophia and Carl, and watches everybody look behind every tree for a biter they probably won't find.

She glances over to the kids and sees them looking very worried. They are concerned about their parents walking around where there could be biters anywhere.

"If you keep frowning like that you two are going to get wrinkles" she says jokingly in an attempt to get them to smile. The little girl named Sophia giggles a little. Carl's mouth lifts up slightly for a fraction of a second. Carl quickly masks his face and frowns.

"Do you guys want to see something cool?" Alice asks to cheer them up. Both of the kids nod, Sophia more enthusiastically than Carl.

She stands up and tucks her sweat shirt into her pants so it won't slide down. Then she leans forward and soon enough the world is upside down. Alice shuffles her hands around until she is looking at both of the kids. From her position, everyone looks like they are hanging off the world. Carl looks at her unamused while Sophia is smiling a bit. Alice leans a little more weight so that her injured arm won't get hurt more than it already is.

"A handstand? I can do a handstand" Carl mumbles. She moves back to her feet and gives them a mischievous grin.

"Well, can you do this?" Alice then proceeds to move across the ground in a variety of flips and tumbles. When she finishes, Alice can't help but smile largely. This was the routine that she did to win her first trophy in gymnastics. Two sets of eyes stare at Alice through the dense woods. Daryl raises an eyebrow at him brother Merle who is just staring at Alice like she is a hunk of meat.

"That was so hot. Damn is she flexible" Merle says in surprise.

Daryl slaps Merle's arm and raises his crossbow again. "Come on, we have to check out this whole place". Even if Daryl doesn't want to admit it, he was staring at Alice too. The way she flipped through the air with ease made it look like it just came naturally to her.

"Oh trust me, I'm checking it out" Merle says under his breath,

The kids stand up in excitement and applaud wildly. Sophia and Carl both look at Alice in awe. "Teach me how to do that!" Sophia squeals with delight.

Alice just laughs and smiles at both of their reactions. Carl is smiling for the first time that he has gotten here. "Sure, later when the camp is secure. You will have to ask your mother though". Sophia quickly stands up and runs towards her mother who is starting to unpack supplies from the vehicles.

Carl stands up and starts to frowns again. He then walks off to join his mother who is helping Carol unpack.

Merle and Daryl walk a little further into the woods and see no trace of any walkers being remotely close. He looks around for a couple of seconds before returning to the group with his brother.

"I'm going to meet up with you later, little brother" Merle says absent mindedly as he stares at a blonde woman whose name is Andrea. Her face falls immediately once she sees Merle walking towards her but bravely stands her ground. Daryl, however, has another girl in mind.

"Where did you learn to do that?" Daryl says from behind Alice. She jumps in surprise and turns around to see the strange man who gave her the knife.

"Learn what?"

"Those flips and stuff" Daryl says as if it's the most obvious answer in the world.

"I used to be in gymnastics when I was a younger. What is your name again? I never caught it" she says politely. Alice raises one eyebrow as she waits for an answer.

The edges of his lips curve slightly into a smile, he coughs then looks away towards the woods. "Maybe that's because I never told you. It's Daryl, and I already know who you are, Alice"

For the first time since she met him, Alice is able to get a good look at the man who saved her life. He has thick brown hair and is wearing a shirt without sleeves. His pants are full of dirt and he has a crossbow slung over his back. Pretty much everything about him screams ''redneck''.

"Thank you, Daryl, for giving me the knife and warning me about aiming for the head before I went into Atlanta. You pretty much saved my life"

He nods at her and stares into Alice's blue eyes, without blinking. It is kind of unnerving but Alice tries to keep from looking away. "You're welcome. Just glad you got out of there alive"

"Oh Darylina! Come here real quick!" Merle yells from the woods. Daryl frowns at the nickname but leaves to join his brother without saying another word to. Alice stands there a little dumbfounded that he just left her in the middle of a conversation but quickly shakes it off.

A woman with dark brown hair with Carl hanging to her side walks over to Alice carrying a large bag. She hands it to her with a smile. "My name is Lori, and I already know your name, Alice. Here's a tent that you can sleep in"

"Thank you" she says nicely, her face stuck in a smile.

"I saw you doing those gymnastic moves a little while earlier. You are amazing" Lori says. Deep down, Lori appreciates Alice's gymnastic moves for more than entertaining her son. It was a distraction from the past twenty-four hours for both of them. It was a temporary distraction from Rick's death.

"Thank you so much" Alice says with a huge smile.

Once Lori walks away, Alice's face turns into a deep frown. She has never set up a tent before in her whole life, and wouldn't even know where to start!

She walks part ways into the woods and pour out her tent supplies in the bag. There are several rods bending everywhere and a dark green tarp. She looks around a little while for instructions, but alas, she finds nothing. Alice sits down on the ground and stares at the many parts and fabrics lying around her.

"Maybe if I stare at it long enough, I will know what to do" Alice mumbles to herself. She continues to stare at the supplies and still doesn't have any clue what to do first. Alice just shrugs and stands up.

Without having a clue what she is doing, she grabs the nearest pole and start jamming it into the tent. Alice picks up another rod and sticks it into the other side of the tent. Soon enough all the rods are off the ground and somewhere on the tent. She stands back to admire her work. The only thing she has accomplished was making several large holes where the door should be.

Leaning against a tree, Glenn has been watching Alice try to put up the tent the whole time. He found it quite amusing that she didn't know something as simple as setting up a tent. Of course, can he blame her? He didn't know how to set up a tent until Dale showed him. He laughs a little to himself and walks towards Alice. She looks up in surprise but relaxes when she sees it isn't a biter coming to eat her.

Alice throws her hands up in the air in frustration. "Care to give a girl a little help?"

Glenn takes his sweet time getting over to the tent, and when he sees the damage she has done, he starts laughing. "Have you ever set up a tent before?"

"Yes" Alice says while looking at her feet.

Glenn rolls his eyes at her lie. "Obviously. Alright, let's see if I can't fix this". He leans down and pulls out the poles stuck in the tent. Glenn looks down at the tent lying flat on the ground. He closes his eyes and tries to picture it set up perfectly.

Alice taps on his shoulder and looks at Glenn weirdly. "What are you doing?"

Glenn glares at her before closing his eyes again. "Picturing the tent in my head. Athletes do it before they compete. If it works for them, it can work for me" he says confidently. Glenn opens his eyes and then starts sticking the poles into the tent. He squints his eyes as he concentrates. After a long fifteen minutes, all the poles are placed into the tent.

Alice coughs awkwardly then looks at the tent warily. "That doesn't look right to me"

"No, no, Alice, it's fine! You just have to... lift it up". Glenn grabs the tent and attempts to stand it up. It stays up for a couple of seconds before collapsing in on itself. He smacks his forehead with his hand and shakes his head. "I give up. Talk to Dale, he knows how to do this stuff. He showed me how to put my tent up"

Alice walks across the now busy campsite towards the RV. Dale is standing on the top with a pair of binoculars and a rifle. He looks at everyone protectively. His hand unconsciously reaches for his rifle when he sees movement out of the corner of his eyes. Every time it is just another survivor.

"Uncle Dale? Can you help me with my tent?" Alice calls up to her uncle. Dale looks down at her and smiles.

"Glenn! Can you take lookout for a while?" Dale yells as he climbs down the ladder on the side of the RV. The Korean boy runs up towards Dale and takes the gun. He then eagerly climbs on top of the RV and watches carefully over the campsite. Like Dale, his hand keeps flinching towards the gun every so often.

Dale and Alice walk back to where the mess of her tent is. His mouth drops open before he bursts into loud laughter.

Alice's face turns a bright red. She crosses her arms defensively before saying, "Most of this is Glenn's fault." It's always easier to just blame other people.

Dale chuckles before fixing the tent. "That boy has no clue how to set up a tent. I taught him step by step and he still couldn't set up his own tent. I had to do it for him". Dale lifts the tent up with an aged hand to show one of the many holes Alice put in the tent. He raises an eyebrow and looks at his niece. "What happened here?"

Alice just shrugs. She looks at Dale in guilt as he pitches the tent. She can't help but think how selfish she is that she is hiding the bite from her own uncle. She is a danger to everyone here.

"I'm bit" the words just escape from her mouth. Alice slaps her hand to her mouth in shock. This is one of those moments where the mouth works faster than the mind.

Dale spins around in shock and looks at Alice in disbelief. "No, you're not"

"Yes I am!" Tears are threatening to spill out of Alice's clear blue eyes as she lifts her sweatshirt sleeve up to reveal a blood soaked rag covering the bite. Dale stands up and peels the rag off the wound. He gazes at the injury for a couple of seconds before looking at Alice in fear. He looks around him quickly then drags her further into the woods. When he feels that they are far enough from everybody, he stops.

"When did this happen?"

"Yesterday sometime. I guess last night to be exact"

Dale looks at Alice in disbelief and shakes his head. "That's about twenty-four hours ago! If you were going to change, you would've by now". He rests his hand on her forehead. "You would've at least had a fever by now. Maybe it's not a walker bite"

Alice wipes away the tears forming around her eyes and sniffles a bit. "No, it was from a biter. Paul got me"

He runs his face and looks towards his scared niece's face. Dale instantly wishes he didn't. The look on her face is almost enough to make him burst into tears. He feels as if his heart is about to break. He lost his wife, his nephew, just lost his sister and brother and law, he's not going to lose Alice.

"We will figure out what to do about this when the fever comes. I don't know why you don't have one by now. You should be burning up" Dale says curiously.

Alice nods her head sadly. She starts to shuffle back towards camp when Dale grabs her arm. "Don't tell anyone about this, alright? Some people here are not going to listen to reason. All they're going to see is a ticking time bomb"

"Yes Uncle Dale" Alice whispers softly. They both start walking towards camp. The sound of laughter fills the air. The pair look over to see several groups circled around their own little corner. In the horizon the sun is low in the sky and paints the sky with a variety of colors.

Alice walks over to one circle and sits next to a man who she thinks his name is Jim.

"I think we should do a little game, so we can get to know each other better. I mean, if we're going to stick together, it might be nice." a blonde girl says happily. She looks towards Alice and nods. "You start. Say your name and what your job is... used to be. For example, my name is Amy and I worked as a waitress. Your turn"

"My name is Alice, I am, or was, a trapeze artist in a circus". Everyone looks towards her in curiosity. Out of all the jobs in the world, nobody suspected that.

"So you swing on those things high up in the air and throw each other around" Daryl says. His face casts dark shadows in the growing darkness and he stares at Alice without moving his eyes an inch.

She nods. "I guess you could say that. I also walk on tightropes"

Sophia and Carl look at her in excitement. "Can you teach me how to walk on a tightrope?" Sophia squeals.

"You are not going to learn how to walk on a tightrope" Ed says sternly. He glares at Alice as if she did something terrible. Sophia immediately settles down and keeps her mouth shut. She leans against her mother who rubs her back in a comforting way.

Everyone else goes along the line, but Alice doesn't listen. The conversation reminded her of what she left behind. All she can now concentrate about is what her life was a day ago. A day ago she had no care in the world other than to walk to the other platform at the end of the tightrope. A day ago, she was with Jackson. Tears threaten to spill out of her eyes as she thinks of Jackson. _What kind of friend am I? I haven't even thought of him once since I last saw him. I didn't even think to go back and see if he made it._ Alice thought.

She abruptly gets up and startles everyone. "I.. I think I'm going to go to bed". Everyone nods while Dale just stares at her. Alice quickly walks away to the tent that Dale has kindly made for her. She unzips the tent and opens it to find a blanket folded in the middle of the tent and her backpack in the corner. Alice closes the tent behind her and cocoons herself inside of the blanket. No matter how hard she tried, the tears keep streaming down her face. Jackson. All she can think about is Jackson.

_~~ 10 Years Ago~~_

_It starts raining hard by the time Alice arrives for her job interview. Since she couldn't afford to drive herself here, or anywhere for that matter, she will have to take the interview in a soaking wet dress._

_Alice walks back into the manager's office and closes the door behind her. The woman behind the desk looks at her in disgust. Alice's hair is matted down over her petite face and her once fluffy dress looks like a sad teardrop._

_"I'm here for the 2:00 interview" she says as kind as possible. The woman reaches over the desk to shake her soaking wet hand._

_"I'm sorry, but the job position has already been filled"_

_Her eyes open wide and she stare at her in shock. Alice keeps waiting for the joke, but it never comes. "What are you talking about? I need this job!"_

_She shakes her head and opens the door. "I'm sorry but we found someone more qualified for the position. You are only a teenager. We were looking for someone... older and more mature. I'm so sorry for wasting your time"_

_She glares at the woman as she exits. Alice's shoes squish water out in every step. It gives her a small pleasure to know that she is leaving puddles of water in her store._

_Alice can't tell if it's my tears or the rain that's clouding her eyesight but either way, she has no clue where she's going. It's like she is walking in a daze, just letting her feet guide the way. Alice's family needs her to get a job fast. Her dad just got laid off and her mother can't work because she's sick. Paul is doing all he can but he can't even get a job with his kind of criminal record._

_She stops right in front of a door to a warehouse. On the door is a paper that says 'Auditions Here Today for Mr. Velvet's Circus Troupe'. Alice can't help but giggle a little at the thought of her being in the circus, but a job is a job._

_She pushes the door open and everyone stops what they're doing. There are miscellaneous things lying everywhere: a rubber chicken, electrical wire, a baby doll, and many other things Alice has no clue what they are._

_"I'm here for an audition" she says proudly. Alice tries to stand up as straight as she can to give her a confident appearance, but she doubts that it didn't work since she currently looks like a waterlogged cat._

_A middle-aged man looks between Alice and two poles with a wire strung between them. "You're too young. I'm sorry but we need someone trained on a tight rope"_

_"I can learn. I'm really fast at learning"_

_He sighs then rubs his bald head. "I'll tell you what, if you can walk that tightrope, I will give you the job. If you can't, I will give you a nice hot cup of tea then send you home"._

_She quickly rushes over to the wire that is only set up as high as her chin. Even though it isn't as high as you normally see someone walk on, Alice is terrified. She climbs up the small step stool and prepares herself to walk across. Her foot is right above the wire when someone hands her a pair of black leather shoes. Alice looks down to see a blonde, scrawny boy about her age holding out the shoes._

_"These might work better than the ones you're wearing" he smiles then steps back with the other man. She sits down and slips the shoes on. Oddly enough they are a perfect fit. Once again Alice stands in front of the wire and take a deep breath._

_Alice looks forward and places her foot on the wire. Her legs start to shake but she keeps going and places the other foot on the wire also. Right now she is blessing my mother for signing me up for those years of gymnastics. Without all the practices and endless gymnastic meets, she wouldn't be able to even stand on this wire. _

_She doesn't dare look down as she brings her other foot in front of her. It lands confidently on the wire and she laughs a little to herself. She does it again. Then again. Then again, until she is all the way across the wire! She looks towards the people as they stare at her in awe._

_The boy runs up to Alice and starts to shake her hand. "That was amazing! You sure that was your first time?"_

_"Positive"_

_"Wow. Just. Wow. My name is Jackson"_

_She smiles widely. "Mine is Alice"_

The sobs take over Alice as she thinks about Jackson and Mr. Velvet. They gave her the chance to make a life for herself. How does she repay them? She completely forgets about them and leaves them both in Atlanta to fend for themselves.

Soon enough, her tears stop and her breathing slow down. Alice's heart rate starts to slow as she falls asleep out of pure exhaustion. Nothing can prepare her for what comes ahead, but she can at least prolong it with a bit of sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Sunlight shines into Alice's tent and softly kisses her face. Despite the warm welcome, Alice shuns it to the darkest pits of hell. She groans then rolls over to her stomach. Alice lifts the blanket over her head with the full intention to fall back asleep. She is so close to drifting off to sleep when she hears a twig snap outside her tent.

Alice throws her blanket off of her and jolts up. Her fingers slowly zip open the tent door to peek outside. She opens it just enough to peek her eye through. A scream echos throughout the campsite when she sees an eye staring back at her.

Alice backs away in her tent as the intruder unzips it. She grabs her blanket and decides that if it comes to it, she will take down this biter with just that.

The tent door unzips all the way to see an amused Daryl looking at Alice who is cowering in the corner of the tent. Her breathing slows down and she places a hand on her heart.

"You can't just scare someone like that!" she screams, still recovering from the scare.

Daryl laughs a little and shakes his head. "Dale sent me to wake you up before you slept away the whole day''

"What time is it?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" Daryl says slightly rudely. He begins to walk away from the tent and towards his brother who watched the situation.

"She sure can scream. One day I'm going to make her scream like that, but for a different reason" Merle says slyly. Without shame he stares at Alice as she gets out of the tent. Once she turns around, Merle moves his head slightly to get a better look.

Daryl mentally rolls his eyes. "Merle, that girl isn't going to let you within fifty feet of her"

"Just you wait, little brother. Just you wait. Nobody can resist me for long"

Alice walks towards her Uncle Dale who is on lookout. He shields his eyes from the morning sun and looks out towards the woods, searching for any movement.

"See anything?" a dark-haired man who Alice just learned whose name is Shane yells upwards. He throws a water bottle up to Dale who catches it with ease.

"Nah. Nothing" Dale shakes his head.

"Good". Shane walks away and sits next to Lori and Carl. He ruffles Carl's hair before sitting down next to Lori.

Dale looks down at his niece. Her face is a little paler and she looks weaker but she doesn't look like she is turning. Even though he knows that it is useless, he hopes that she never turns. He can't stand to lose any more family.

"How are you, Alice?"

She feels her forehead then looks down at herself in an analyzing way. "I'm good. Nothing seems to be wrong"

Dale nods his head and keeps looking around the campsite. Alice walks over to a small fire where Carol is heating up some beans.

"What's for breakfast?"

Carol looks up then smiles a little. She grabs a spoon and stirs the beans in the metal container. "You missed breakfast. This is lunch. Amy and Andrea have a lot of beans with them, so this will be our meals for a long time"

Alice smiles and sits down on the ground next to Carol. "Good thing I like beans then". Carol grabs a small bowl and fills it partly with beans. She then hands it to Alice who looks like she won the lottery. "Thank you. I'm starving!" Alice quickly wolfs down the beans in a matter of seconds.

Carol starts to laugh at Alice. Never in her life has she seen someone eat anything that fast. Ed starts to walk out of the woods and makes eye contact with Carol. Her laughter quickly dies down and she covers her mouth to hide her smile. Alice turns around to see what made Carol quiet down and she sees Ed. She looks between the two a little suspiciously before shrugging it off.

"Alice! Alice! Alice!" Sophia starts to run up to Alice as fast as she can. She dives on the ground next to her and grabs Alice's arm. "Please teach me how to do those flips and stuff you did yesterday!"

Alice looks over at Carol who gives them her 'stamp of approval'. Sophia quickly gets up and drags Alice over to a clear spot by the RV. Dale chuckles a little once he sees how excited Sophia is. She is going crazy.

"Let's start with something simple. A handstand". Sophia's face drops and she glares slightly at Alice who raises her hands in defense. "Hey, hey hey! The handstand one of the basics. You have to start at the bottom before getting into more advance stuff"

"Fine! But after this we are doing something cooler" Sophia crosses her arms over her test and pouts.

"Deal"

Sophia places her hands on the ground in an attempt to do a handstand. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't get her legs up. Alice laughs before lifting up Sophia's skinny legs. She holds Sophia's waist to keep her from falling backwards.

"Mom! Look!" Sophia yells. Her face starts to turn red from being upside down but Sophia doesn't care. Her hair falls over her face and covers her eyes but she can still make out her mother sitting by the fire.

"Good job, Sophia!" Carol yells back.

Alice lets go of her legs and lets Sophia stand up normally again. She is just about to have Sophia do it again on her own when Ed walks up to them.

"Sophia, go help your mother" he grits through his teeth. Sophia looks down at the ground and runs back over to her mother. Ed glares at Alice and points his finger at her. "I don't want you to teach my daughter any of those stupid tricks"

"But they're harmless. It's not that big of-"

"I don't want you to teach my daughter any of those stupid tricks" he says again with more force than the last one.

Alice's eyes go wide for a second before nodding her head. "Fine. It won't happen again"

"Better not" Ed says before joining his family by the fire. All of the happiness that was previously there is gone. Carol and Sophia's smiles are replaced by dull looks.

Alice stands there in shock, staring at the family. She shakes her head and turns around, only to run into a chest.

"I'm so sorry". She looks up to see Daryl looking down at her. Alice quickly backs away to a comfortable distance. Daryl can't help but watch the girl. There is something about her that always draws him near her. Maybe it's just pure curiosity. Alice is one of the more interesting people in the camp. She had an interesting career and he knows barely anything about her. Unlike everyone else she doesn't constantly share little facts about herself.

"What was Ed saying to you? He didn't look to happy" he says in his southern accent.

"He didn't want me to teach Sophia any of those 'stupid tricks'" she says while rolling her eyes. Alice looks over to Carol in concern. She knows an abusive relationship when she sees one, considering she has been in a couple herself. Alice always in had friends and family that helped her end it before the relationship became even more toxic, but she's not sure about Carol.

Daryl leans against the RV and stares at Alice. Her eyes waver a little but eventually she is staring back at him with the same intensity. "I don't think any of those tricks are stupid"

Alice is right about to respond when Merle throws his arm around her shoulder. "Alice". He nods towards Daryl. "Darylina"

"Don't. Call. Me. That" Daryl says through his teeth. He glares at Merle as if willing for him to go away. Alice just stares at Merle in surprise and a bit of fear. She is still freaked out from him when he took the knife away from her with such ease.

"Can you please take your arm off of me" Alice says with a faltering smile.

Merle looks at her and brings his face close to hers. She leans back as far as she can, but she can't go far because he is holding her in place. "Nah. I'm good"

"Merle, just get your filthy arm off of her"

Merle's face snaps back to his little brother. He puts an innocent look on his face and lifts his arm off of Alice. "I wasn't harming her or nothing. Don't get your panties in a bunch there, little brother"

Alice brings her hand to her head to hold herself steady. For some reason she feels like the earth is spinning. Her vision starts to shake and she has an overwhelming feeling of nausea. The brothers keep arguing while Alice grips the side of the RV for stability.

Daryl is the first to notice that something is wrong. He says something to her but she doesn't hear. Daryl has to slightly shake her shoulder to get her to look up. "Are you alright?"

She sways back and forth and grabs his arm for stability. "Yeah... yeah I'm fine. Just a little dizzy"

Daryl and Merle look at her as if they don't believe her. Alice shrugs off Daryl's hand and starts walking back to her tent. Halfway there, she drops to the ground unconscious.

Daryl swears and runs towards her as she is sprawled across the dirt. Dale gets down from lookout and runs towards his niece. He leans down and feels her forehead. Still cool.

"Help me carry her to the RV" Dale says gruffly to Daryl. They put her arms over their shoulders and they carry her towards the RV. As carefully as possible, they set her down on the couch. Daryl notices blood soaking through her sweatshirt and lifts up her sleeve to see a rag covering a wound. What the wound was, Daryl has no clue but he can take a guess.

"What the hell is this?" Daryl yells at Dale.

Dale sighs then looks down at his niece. Even though she fell down unconscious, it only looks like she is sleeping. "She cut herself with that knife she had. The wound must've gotten infected"

Daryl glares at Dale and doesn't believe him for a second, but decides to give him the benefit of the doubt. "Merle has some strong antibiotics. That should help". Daryl runs over to his brother's motorcycle and rummages through the bag. He grabs a medicine bottle than brings it back to Dale.

Dale grabs a pill then forces it down her throat. He looks back at Daryl who is looking at him with his arms crossed. "You don't have to be here anymore"

Daryl gives Dale one last glare before slamming the RV door behind him. Dale sighs in relief then peels off the rag. A stench fills the room from the undoubtedly infected wound. He grabs a water bottle and washes off the dried blood and pus. Soon enough, the wound is clean.

Once again Dale feels her forehead. She doesn't have a fever or showing any other signs of changing. Nonetheless, Dale grabs his gun as a precaution.

"Daryl! Daryl!" Sophia runs up to Daryl. He is walking to fast for her so Sophia has to sprint to keep up. "Is Alice alright? I saw you carry her into the RV. What's going on?"

"Honestly kid, I have no clue"

Daryl starts to walk into the woods and Sophia stops. Her father has specifically told her to not go into the woods without her mom or father with her.

"Where are you going?" she yells at him as Daryl goes further and further into the woods.

"Huntin'!"

Sophia runs back to Carl and resumes their checker game. Lori watches them carefully then points towards a piece and whispers something in her son's ear. He smiles then moves the same piece.

"No fair! You're cheating!" Sophia accuses. She narrows her eyes at her friend.

"Am not!"

"Are too! Your mom is helping!" Sophia places her hands on her hips and looks at both accusingly.

"You heard the girl! Stop helping Carl out. That's cheating" Shane says while putting emphasis on 'cheating'. He walks up to the group and sits down next to Lori.

"Yeah! Listen to Shane"

Lori shrugs then backs away from Carl, leaving him to fend for himself.

Carl takes his turn and moves his piece right into Sophia's trap. She starts grinning like an evil villain and captures his piece. Carl groans then moves again. Every turn Carl loses a piece to Sophia, and soon enough she has won.

Alice wakes up with a start when she hears the kids screaming in delight. She starts to get up but Dale sets her back down.

"Your wound got infected. You were only out for a little while. Daryl gave me some antibiotics so you should get better soon"

Alice looks at Dale with wide eyes. "He doesn't know that I'm bit. Right?"

Dale sighs and sits next to her. "I never told him but he might have connected the dots. Listen, I don't think you're ever going to change into one of those things"

She raises an eyebrow at her uncle. "What do you mean? I'm bit so I'm going to change"

He shakes his head and sets his rifle to the side. "I think that maybe you have some kind of immunity or something. If you were infected, you would've changed a long time ago. I have never seen someone last this long"

The words sink into Alice as she lays back. She looks at the bite mark and can already see little signs of healing. Deep down she hopes that what Dale says is true, but she has to assume the worst and not get her hopes up.

"Maybe you're right"

"I know I'm right. Now, let me redress this wound so it doesn't get more infected than it already is". Dale reaches into a cabinet and pulls out clean gauze that is conveniently in a first aid kit. Alice flinches a little when he wraps it around her arm, but stays still. Once he's done, he helps his niece stand up and get out of the RV.

Sophia instantly jumps up and runs towards Alice. She hugs her then looks up at Alice with a smile. "I was so worried about you! I saw you carried into the RV and I thought something bad happened"

Alice smiles down at the little girl. "I'm fine now. Just too much sun" Alice lies. She ruffles Sophia's hair before walking over to the large group congregated near a fire.

Everyone in the group looks at Alice as if she is going to break at any second. They all keep quiet and stare at her as Alice sits next to Amy, Andrea's sister.

"What happened?" the blonde girl says carefully. She takes the needles in her hand and brings it through the hole in her sweatshirt. A tree snagged her earlier and left a large hole.

"I just felt a little sick. That's all" Alice says honestly. She hates lying and feels like a weight being lifted off her shoulders when everyone accepted that explanation, because it was partially true.

Alice feels everyone's eyes on her. They watch every move she makes and are there to help her stand up every time she goes to get something. She hates it. Alice hates being treated like she is a porcelain doll that will shatter if anyone does as much as to tap her.

Alice starts to stand up and instantly Glenn is at her side. He lightly grabs her arm to help her stand up.

"Glenn, you don't need to help me stand up. I'm fine"

He shakes his head. "I just don't want you to hurt yourself". Sure, it is a gesture of kindness but it only seems to irritate Alice even more that he is treating her like a baby.

She shrugs off his hand and walks towards the woods to get away from everyone's eyes.

"Where are you going?" Glenn calls out to her.

"I'm taking a walk!"

"Do you want me to go with you to help you around?"

Alice spins around on her heels. Her lips form a forced smile to save Glenn's feelings. "No. I am perfectly capable of taking a walk by myself" she says, holding herself back from yelling at all of him.

Alice practically runs to the woods to escape the curious looks. She passes all the tents and then begins to go deeper and deeper into the woods. Alice mumbles a couple of curse words to herself when she trips over a rock.

She begins to get up, but when she puts pressure on her leg, she lets out a small groan. Alice sits back down and examines her swollen ankle. If it wasn't messed up from when she jumped out of a window, it is really messed up now. She tries to massage the area but flinches every time she touches the tender skin.

A stick snaps and Alice quickly looks the direction it came from. She grabs the rock she tripped on and prepares to defend herself.

"What are you doing out here?" Alice yelps when she hears a voice right next to her ear. She scoots away and raises the rock to see it's only Daryl. On his back he is carrying his crossbow and several dead animals.

"What are _you_ doing out here?'' Alice accuses. She crosses her arms and glares at him for scaring her for the second time today.

"I asked you first"

Alice blows back her short hair out of her face in annoyance. "I'm taking a walk"

"Do you really think that is the best idea at a time like this?" he says calmly.

"You guys made sure the woods were free from biters so I thought it was a safe idea" she mumbles to herself causing Daryl to laugh quietly. "What are you doing out here?" Alice sneers. He looks over at the dead animals on his back that explain for themselves. He was hunting.

Daryl leans down near her ankles and grabs her foot. Alice lets out a little cry of pain but quickly hides it. After several seconds of examining, Daryl stands up. "Just a little swollen. The worst you did was sprain it. You shouldn't walk on it too much to be safe"

Alice nods then tries to stand up. Daryl places a hand on her shoulder to keep her down. He then squats next to her and squints his eyes. "Well since you aren't leaving anytime soon, let's talk about the bite"

Her heart starts to race out of nervousness. Alice's eyes wander to Daryl's crossbow and imagine him using it to kill her. She closes her eyes to get the picture out of her head. "What bite?"

Daryl grips her arm and pulls up her sweatshirt to reveal the redressed wound. "This bite. It is a bite, right?"

Alice pulls back her arm and glares at him. "It's not a bite"

He raises one eyebrow. "Then what is it"

She opens her mouth but nothing comes out. Alice's mind goes numb as she tries to think of an excuse. "That's what I thought". Daryl walks back a ways and pulls off his crossbow.

"What are you doing?" her voice shakes when she sees him get an arrow out of his quiver.

"I'm sorry but I have to put you out"

"What! You can't do this! What will Dale say?" she yells at him.

"Nothing because I will tell him the truth, but I assume he already knows. You are bit and are a danger to all of us"

"Wait! Wait! Please just listen to me!" Alice pleads as he gets his crossbow ready. "I got bit over 48 hours by now! I don't even have a fever!"

Daryl looks up in confusion. He walks back over to her and feels her forehead. Just as she said, it is cool and shows no sign of a fever.

"48 hours?" Daryl whispers to himself. His eyebrows come together as he concentrates.

"Dale says that I should've changed by now, or at least have a fever. He.. he doesn't think I'm ever going to change into a biter". By now Alice is pleading Daryl to listen to her. She needs him to listen to her or she will die.

He slings the crossbow behind his back then pulls Alice up. Right before she is about to protest, he interrupts her. "I believe you, but if you even look remotely close to changing, I'm going to have to put an arrow through your head no matter where we are. Even if it's in front of everyone in the middle of the campsite"

"T-that s-seems fair" Alice stutters. Daryl helps her back to camp. Every step she takes, Alice limps. She knows what everyone will say once they see her ankle.

They start walking back towards the main part of camp when Alice stops. Daryl looks at her expectantly as he waits for an explanation. "I.. I don't want people to see me like this. I don't want people to think I'm more useless than the already do. Can we just go around the camp and to my tent?"

Daryl's harsh gaze softens a bit and then he puts her arm over his shoulder. "You sure? It's more walking"

"I'm absolutely sure. Just make sure to tell everyone that I didn't get eaten by biters so they don't go searching the whole woods for me"

He chuckles a bit then leads the way towards her tent. He was right, it was longer than if they just walked through the campsite, but Alice couldn't bear to have them look at her with pity.

They arrive at her tent and she slips inside. Right before Daryl turns away, she grabs his hand. He stares at their hands for a couple of seconds before meeting her eyes. "Please don't tell anyone"

"About the bite or your ankle?"

"Both"

He nods then removes his hand. "Fine". Daryl walks away, leaving Alice in her tent. There are still hours before it turns dark, so Alice has a lot of time to spare. She crawls over to her backpack and examines what she has. A lot of sleeping pills, pain medication, and laxatives. Alice picks up the money and laughs a little. For some reason she thought that she might need it, but now it's pretty obvious that money is useless.

She freezes once she sees the photograph of her family. It was a picture of them all in front of Mount Rushmore. Her mom forced everyone into their small car and they drove for hours to take this picture. They only stayed for about five minutes until they got in the car to head back home. She runs her fingers over the picture.

"I love you guys" she whispers to the photograph.

Not able to look at it any longer, she gently sets it in the corner of the tent. She lies down and tries to fall asleep so that she can escape the boredom. Her eyes travel to the sleeping medication. She grabs the container and reads the label.

"Only use pill one per twenty-four hour period. Consult a doctor if you are pregnant, planning to be pregnant, or breastfeeding. Good thing I'm not any of those things". Alice grabs a pill and quickly swallows it. Soon enough sleep engulfs her yet again.


	5. Chapter 5

Several weeks passed by with the same routine. Get up. Eat. Then go back to sleep. There hasn't been much variety in Alice's life since everyone is still treating her like she is made of glass. The only person that doesn't treat her like a fragile doll is Daryl. After he got over the initial shock that she is bit and realized she isn't become a biter anytime soon, the pair have been somewhat good friends. He is the only person Alice feels she can talk to without them looking at her in pity.

"Here, take some of my food". Glenn walks over and tries to poor some of his food into her bowl. Alice quickly pulls it away and glares at him.

"I don't need any of your food. If you're going into town, you will need it more. You need the calories" she points out.

He shakes his head. Glenn grabs her bowl and this time succeeding. "You have been looking sick lately. You need it more than I do. Nobody wants you to pass out again"

Alice frowns deeply. "I am not sick and that happened weeks ago! You need to stop treating me like I'm going to shatter any second! I see how everyone looks at me. Everyone feels like just because I was a little sick a little while ago, that they need to take care of me at all times. I will tell you what, Glenn, I am just fine!"

Glenn looks a little taken aback from her outburst but continues to force his food on her. "Please. It will make me feel so much better if you eat the food. I know you're upset but please eat the food" he even goes as far as trying to stick the fork into her mouth against her will.

Alice looks up at his face and can't help but cave in. Glenn instantly smiles once she stuffs the food in her face. When she has finished all of the food Glenn leaves to get ready for a trip into town. He has been into Atlanta for supplies before, but never like this. This time he is taking a group. Usually he goes alone because he is quicker that way, but the walkers are getting thicker in Atlanta and he wants some backup. Also because Alice practically begged him to take someone with him to make sure he's safe. Who is going with him, Glenn is not sure yet.

"Hello, can I have everyone's attention please. Who wants to come into town with me? I just need a small group" Glenn asks towards the campsite. Andrea, Merle, Morales, Jacqui, T-Dog, and Alice all raise their hands. "Alright, meet me here in ten minutes and we will leave. Alice, can I talk to you for a second?"

Glenn grabs Alice's arm to lead her away from the group. People are starting to pack up guns and water before they leave. He licks his lips then looks away, knowing her response. "I don't think you should come with us"

Alice shakes off Glenn's arm and takes a step back in annoyance. "What do you mean? I can help! I know you think that I'm this delicate child but I'm not"

"I just don't think that it would be safe-"

"It's not safe for Andrea or Merle or you for that matter, but I don't see you asking any of them to stay behind!" Alice hisses.

"Please! It's getting bad in Atlanta. I can't stand to see you get hurt". Glenn reaches over to wipe away a hair in Alice's face but she backs away. Her face once contorted with anger softens to a look of mild irritation.

She tries to be mad at Glenn but she can't. Alice has never been one to hold grudges or be angry for a long period of time.

"Fine. But the next trip into town, I come with" Alice pleads. Glenn frowns but can't help and smile a little when she grabs his hand. Over the weeks Glenn has developed a little crush on this short cute girl. He doesn't plan on telling Alice his feelings anytime soon though.

Alice grabs his other hand and he instantly caves in. "Fine! Next time you can come with us"

She smiles and squeezes his hand. "Promise?"

"Promise". Alice squeals a little then kisses Glenn's cheek. He starts to blush brightly and turns around before Alice can see the red peeking up on his cheeks. He walks back towards the car to get it ready for the trip to town. The rest of the group loads up onto the car. Glenn quickly drives down the road and towards the big city.

Alice watches them go. She waves until they go around a bend and disappear from her sight. She sighs then decides to find wherever Daryl went. Alice walks around the campsite for a while but cannot find a sign that Daryl has been here. A couple people said he went a certain way but the trail always went cold. Instead of spending the whole day looking for him, she gives up and decides to help Lori with some cooking.

"Alice! How did you sleep?". Again, another one of the questions that everyone in camp always asks her. For the past few weeks she has had trouble sleeping and has been using the sleeping pills she brought with. One day Dale tried to wake her up but found that he couldn't because she was so under. They thought she overdosed on pills but in reality, they were just really strong sleeping pills. This little incident only intensified the groups' feelings towards Alice doing anything they deemed 'dangerous'.

"Just fine. I didn't need to use any pills to fall asleep. I think I'm getting used to lying on the ground"

Lori smiles then starts to organize the pile of pots. She sets them down carefully, trying hard not to make any more sound than necessary. "That's great. Carl had the same trouble the first nights here. You just have to get used to sleeping on rocks and dirt". She looks up when she sees Amy pop out of the woods with a bucket. "Any luck?"

"Yeah I got a few. How do you tell if they're poisonous?" Amy asks carefully. She shows them the bucket to reveal several mushrooms at the bottom.

Lori pauses for a second to think. "I know one way to know for sure"

"Ask Shane when he comes back from where-ever he went off to?" Alice asks.

She nods. "You've got it". Lori pours the mushrooms into a bowl and starts to head off into the woods with the bucket in hand. "Dale, I'm heading out to get some more mushrooms"

Dale turns around and shields his eyes from the sun to get a better look at Lori. "Alright. Make sure you stay within shouting distance!". Lori nods right before heading into the woods.

Amy sits next to Alice and takes over the job of making sure the food doesn't burn. "So Alice, how have you been sleeping?"

Alice frowns a little. This is at least the fifth time today that someone has asked her this question. It has begun to really get on her nerves. No matter how annoyed she is, Alice tries her best to sound polite. "Just fine, thank you". Alice quickly stands up and walks towards her tent. Right before she enters, a voice comes right next to her ear.

"Did they already leave to go into town?"

Alice jumps a little but is not surprised to see Daryl smirking at her. He seems to greet her like this often and she has become accustomed to him popping up everywhere.

"Yeah. They left almost an hour ago"

"Damn it. I wanted to talk to Merle a little before he went off with Glenn. He's been talking for hours about how he's going into town this trip and going to smash some geeks' heads in. How's everyone treating ya?" Daryl asks curiously.

He leans up against the nearest tree and waits for the daily rant from Alice about how they all treat her like a child. Daryl finds it a little amusing that people don't see how much it irritates her. He also finds it pretty amusing how people seem to underestimate her. She's much tougher and stronger than everyone thinks she is.

"The same way. Glenn practically told me to shove off when I volunteered to go into town with him. He promised me that I could go with him next time, but he will probably find another excuse why I can't go with them". She blows her oily hair out of her face. "I just hate everyone thinking that I'm useless, you know? It just... irritates me so much"

Daryl nods then takes the crossbow off his shoulder. In a matter of seconds he turns around and heads into the woods. Just like always, he ends the conversation by walking away. Alice gets an idea then runs after him.

"You're going hunting, right?" she asks.

"Yes I am"

"Can I come with you?" She flutters her eyelashes a couple times in an attempt to persuade Daryl. He looks down at her innocent face and can't help but sigh. Alice always gets her way whenever she looks at anyone with the innocent face she seemed to have mastered, however it might not be helping her cause of people not treating her like a fragile doll.

"I don't know. Do you know how to track or hunt?"

She shakes her head. "No, but you can teach me". Alice frowns deeply when she sees his expression. "Please, I learn fast. Plus, I can help you. Two people are always better than one. I need to help. I can't just stand around here being any more useless than I already am. Please Daryl"

Daryl sighs again. "Fine, but you have to listen to everything I say and be quiet for Christ's sake"

Alice's face lights up in a way that forces Daryl to smile a bit. Whenever she is happy, she seems to light up everyone around her. She is like a light.

They walk a little further in the woods and Daryl is surprised that he cannot even hear Alice. He sometimes has to look over his shoulder to make sure that she is still behind him. Since she used to have a career of walking on tight ropes, she has a very delicate step. Alice is always careful to step around twigs and rolls her ankles to keep her footsteps quiet.

Daryl looks down and notices a light trail. It looks like from a human but maybe a walker. He pulls off his crossbow and starts walking closer to the ground.

"See this?" he points towards a faint footstep in the dirt. "Footsteps. Either someone from our camp is really far into these woods or it's a walker"

They walk a little further to hear some moaning. Daryl lifts his crossbow higher, prepared to shoot anything that comes his way. He looks on the other side of the tree to see Shane and Lori doing something that should never they must never speak about. Alice looks over and turns a dark red.

"I think we should just go" she says shakily. She covers her ears so that she doesn't have to hear the noise. Daryl just nods and they go in the other direction. They walk for a little while longer until Daryl stops and randomly hands his crossbow to Alice.

"You might as well learn how to use a crossbow sometime"

She stares at him wide eyed. "You want me to use your crossbow? Last time I checked you wouldn't even let your brother use your crossbow". Daryl shrugs then comes up behind her.

He points towards the string and the arrows. "My brother's a dumbass. Now way in hell he is laying a finger on this baby. Now pull that string back then put the arrow right here".

Alice grips the string and pulls it back with all her strength. Daryl chuckles a little because he is pretty amazed that someone as tiny as Alice can pull back the string. "Now, lift it up a little and aim for the knot in the tree". He taps on her arm and lifts it up a little. "Straighten that arm a tad then release once you got your aim on your target".

Alice looks down the crossbow until it is aimed right at the knot in the tree. She breathes in deeply to calm down her shaking arms before letting the arrow fly right towards the target. Daryl walks over and whistles.

"Just missed it by a centimeter. Pretty damn good for your first try" He easily yanks the arrow from the tree and walks back to Alice. "Do it again".

Alice repeats all the previous steps and this time hits right around the middle of the knot. Again and again Alice never misses.

"You sure you never shot a crossbow before, woman?"

She smiles largely before handing the crossbow back to its owner. "Never in my life"

He shakes his head in disbelief. "You're really good. With a little more practice you will be able to hit that knot with your eyes closed". Daryl puts an arrow into the crossbow and shoots a squirrel leaping from tree to tree. "Soon, you might be able to get some meat on the table". He retrieves his kill then ties it onto a rope on his back.

Back at the camp, Dale is looking at his beloved RV. He opens up the hood to see one of his worst fears. He glances back at Jim and shakes his head. "This hose isn't long for this world. If we want this RV to be up and running, we're going to need a replacement".

"Where the hell are we going to find a replacement?"

"Maybe next time Glenn goes into town he can grab one off of another car. For now, duct tape is going to have to do". Dale looks around the campsite and yet again, another one of his greatest fears is becoming a reality. "Where's Alice?"

Amy walks back with some pots and pans. "No clue. Saw her go off with Daryl a little while ago". Once she sees the scared look on Dale's face, she immediately says something. "Daryl isn't stupid. She's going to be safe. If someone is going to keep anyone safe it's Daryl. Have you seen him with a crossbow?"

Dale nods but is still unsure. "I guess you're right"

"I know I'm right, now stop you're worrying". She starts to walk down to the quarry to wash off the dirty dishes and tin cans. There haven't been enough clean plates to go around so some people have had to eat out of tin cans. It's not like anyone's complaining. Food is food no matter what it's served in.

"Attaboy. You got it! Now just move the rope around like this" Shane says to Carl as he moves the rope around to form a knot. "And three, two, one, pull it!" Carl tries to pull back the rope but instead of forming a knot, the rope just falls apart. "Ah man, start over".

Carl starts to laugh uncontrollably but starts over. He moves the rope around his fingers until Shane stops him. "No, no. You have to make the 'p' around your finger like this". Carl follows his instructions carefully and soon enough he has a knot just like Shane does.

The radio starts to make static noises until a voice comes in on the other side. T-Dog starts saying frantically through the receiver, "Base camp? Hello? Anyone there? This is T-Dog". Shane instantly runs and starts fiddling with the dials until there is a clear enough reception.

"T-Dog? Is that you? Reception is bad on this end"

"We're in some really deep shit here. We're trapped in a department store. There are hundreds of walkers out there. No way out that we can see". His voice is covered by thick static and the group is having a hard time making out every word.

"T-Dog, repeat that last part". The static ends and T-Dog's voice is no longer heard. Shane groans a little before messing with the dials to no avail. They lost the connection.

"They're stuck in the department store" Dale says.

"I heard it too. Shane?" Lori walks next to Shane and rests a hand on his arm. Shane shakes his head and frowns.

"No way. We can't go after them. We can't risk anymore people going after them. We do not risk the rest of the group". Everyone nods their head in understanding then heads back to whatever they were doing before the radio message happened. It's not like they like the idea of leaving them to be eaten by walkers but they know that Shane is right. The small group will just have to find a way out there by themselves.

Amy is just starting to walk back from the quarry. She looks at everyone's faces and feels dread rush up on her. Amy looks over at Dale for an explanation.

"The group that went into town are in a bit of a pickle" he tells her, careful to avoid the walkers.

Amy narrows her eyes. "What kind of pickle?"

Dale sighs. "One that involves walkers"

Her eyes grow wide in fear for her sister. "Why is everyone just sitting here then? We have to go after them!" Amy says nervously.

Shane walks over to Amy to talk to her. "There's nothing we can do. They're as good as gone"

Her mouth opens in shock at his statement. Amy just can't seem to wrap her head around the fact the Shane feels that way. "So you're just going to leave them to die? My sister and our friends?" she hisses at him.

"Look, Amy. I know this isn't easy but she knew the risks when she volunteered. If they're trapped, then they're gone. We just have to accept that. I know it's not going to be easy but-"

"That's my sister you son of a bitch". Amy is just about to pounce onto Shane when she is held back by Lori. She starts to lead Amy away from him in an attempt to calm her done.

"Come on, Amy. It's going to be alright". Lori rubs Amy's back to calm her down. They both sit down on a rock. "Glenn's going to bring Andrea back"

She looks back towards Lori and tries to smile but it looks forced. "You think?"

"I know it. Now you go on and help Dale out. It's starting to get dark and I heard him complaining how he needs help fixing something in the RV". Amy walks over to Dale who is staring out into the woods.

"They still aren't back yet"

"Stop freaking out, Dale. Maybe he took her hunting with him. Daryl usually is gone a couple of days whenever he is hunting" Amy says, being the voice of reason. Dale seems to calm down a little.

"Maybe I'm just turning into a nervous old man" he laughs a little. "I just get so nervous whenever she's out of my sight since she has been sick lately. She's the only family I have and I can't stand to see her get hurt"

Amy shrugs and sits next to Dale who is clutching his rifle. "It's going to get dark soon. Give me the rifle and I can take watch". Dale hands her the rifle. Amy climbs up to the top of the RV to take watch for the night.

Deep into the woods Alice and Daryl are leaning up against a tree. Daryl is starting to skin some of the animals he shot and Alice is doing her best not to vomit everywhere. His hands move the knife across the animal with expert precision. He has done this many times before and knows exactly what he is doing.

"This is disgusting" Alice wrinkles her nose at the bloody mess in front of her. Daryl just shrugs at the gruesome scene.

"Someone has to skin these animals. If you don't like it then move over there". He points his knife towards a tree far enough away to not see the details of the dead animals. She looks back and forth but decides to stay. Alice feels much safer close to Daryl.

The sun has disappeared and the stars are just starting to come out. "Should we build a fire?" she asks.

"Nope. Just will attract unknown attention"

Alice frowns. "Oh. It could get cold out though"

"Well then you can do whatever you want to stay warm just don't make a damn fire"

"Are you sure? I mean, who is going to see a fire in the middle of the woods"

Daryl stops what he's doing and glares at Alice. "You're starting to get on my nerves, woman. Haven't anybody told you not to anger the person with the knife?"

"You wouldn't do anything" Alice says so quietly that Daryl doesn't hear. She shivers a little and then her teeth start to chatter slightly in the cool night breeze.

"Damn it, just come here and quit your chattering" Daryl says gruffly.

Alice looks at the strange man in confusion. She sits by Daryl and he wraps his arm around her. Instantly a blush creeps up on her face. Alice is now thanking the lord that it is too dark for him to see her tomato red cheeks.

"Daryl, what are you doing?"

"Keeping you warm. Now shut up and go to sleep". Alice didn't need to be told twice. She folded herself into Daryl's side and slowly falls into a deep slumber. She can't help but think that for a man who hasn't taken a shower in a couple weeks he has a nice smell.

Daryl stays up for a little longer, taking in his surroundings. When he feels like they are safe enough, he falls asleep also with Alice in his arms.


	6. Chapter 6

The sun is just starting to rise when the camp echoes with the noise of a car siren. Everyone jumps out of their tent to see a Glenn driving a red car down the road. The tires skid around the bend on the dirt path. All the while he is yelling in happiness and smiling like a mad man

Dale runs up towards the road and waits for Glenn to drive up to the campsite. "I'll be damned" he can't help but mutter to himself.

"What is it?" Jacqui asks in amazement.

"A stolen car, probably" Dale answers.

Glenn reaches all the way up the road and gets out smiling. He looks around at everyone, expecting cheers and congratulations. Instead he gets yelled at by a whole group of people. Everyone starts to shout things at him like 'turn it off', 'what the hell were you thinking', and 'it's too loud'.

"Holy crap, turn the damn car off!" Dale yells above the loud beeping noise.

Glenn's face falls. He runs towards the car and starts pressing random buttons. No matter how many buttons or dials he turned, the beeping wouldn't stop. However, he has succeeded in beeping the horn several times and ejecting a CD. "I don't know how!" he yells in frustration.

Shane slaps the hood of the car. "Pop the hood. Please, just pop the hood for me". Glenn does as he's told. Shane reaches towards the battery and disconnects the car. Finally the siren is off.

Amy pushes past the forming group and to Glenn.

"My sister, Andrea, is she alright?" Amy says practically hanging on Glenn as she speaks. He nods his head wildly while attempting to pry himself from her grasp.

"Yes, yes. She's coming"

"Why isn't she with you?"

"She's coming with everyone else" Glenn looks at the ground, "Well, except for Merle".

Shane stomps around the car like an angry child until he's right in front of Glenn. "What do you think you're doing driving that thing all the way up here? Are you trying to draw every walker for miles?"

"Well, it's kind of hard to pinpoint the source with it bouncing around all these hills" Dale says in an attempt to defend Glenn. Glenn smiles a little at Dale for his attempt to take some of the blame off of him.

"You think this is okay?" Shane says angrily to Dale.

"I think we will be fine, that's what I'm saying. I'm not disagreeing with you". Dale turns towards Glenn. "Next time think it through a little more, alright". Glenn mumbles a little to himself something along the lines of it being a cool car.

Everybody is just about to head back up to the campsite when a truck comes up the road. Amy's face lights up and she runs towards it. Andrea steps out in a swift motion. The two sisters instantly hug each other as tight as they can. Carl starts to tear up because he wanted his father to return with the group. Lori pulls him away and starts talking to him.

"How'd y'all get out anyways? I thought you were surrounded" Shane asks curiously.

Morales points towards the truck. "New guy got us out. Crazy vato just got into town. Hey helicopter boy! Come say hello!" His daughter jumps into his arms. Morales nods towards the now opening door. A man in a sheriff uniform gets out of the truck. He looks around for a bit until his eyes land on Lori and Carl. They both look shocked but recover quickly. Instantly Carl runs up to the man with tears of happiness coming from his eyes. Lori is close behind with the same happy expression.

"Dad!"

"Carl!" They all hold each other in a tight embrace, as if they let go they will disappear forever. He kisses the top of Carl's head then buries his face in Lori's hair. The group grins at the happy family, even Shane.

Later that night everyone is by a fire, listening to Rick's story. He's told them that up until now he has been in a coma. He woke up to the new world and immediately went on the search for his family. After meeting another man and his child, Rick was inspired to come to Atlanta in search for Carl and Lori.

"Disoriented. Fear, confusion... but disoriented is the closest to describing it" Ricks says while hugging his family. "I felt like I have been ripped out of my life. For a while I thought this was all just a dream that I would wake up from".

"Mom said you died" Carl says quietly but everyone heard it. Rick smiles a little but it ends up looking more like a grimace.

"She had every reason to think that"

Lori curls herself into her husband's side. He loops her arm around Rick's to bring herself closer to him. Never in her life has she been so content. "When things got really bad, they said they were going to medevac you to Atlanta. That never happened" she says.

Rick nods. "I'm not surprised since Atlanta fell and the hospital looked like it was overrun"

Shane decides to speak up, causing everyone to look his way. "I just barely got them out of there, y'know"

"And I am so grateful towards you for that. There is no possible way that I can describe how grateful I am to you" Rick says honestly.

Ed reaches over to a pile of logs and throws another one on the fire. The flames start to rise a higher and a new heat washes over the survivors.

Shane walks over to Ed and stands in front of him. "Want to rethink that log?"

Ed glares up at Shane. "It's cold"

"Remember, we keep the fire low so nothing can see us out there. Did you forget what it's like in Atlanta?"

Ed scoffs at Shane. He points towards the fire. "Go on. Pull the damn things out, man"

Shane looks like he is about to snap when Carol reaches for the log. She pulls it out of the fire and stomps out the flames that are burning the log. Soon enough the fire is a low ember glow. Shane stares at her in shock, along with the rest of Carol's family. Sophia, her daughter, buries herself in her sweatshirt as if to hide herself from the prying stares of the group.

Everyone was quiet during the argument. When it seems like it is over, the conversations start once again like nothing happened.

"Does anyone have any thoughts for Daryl? I'm going to bet he isn't going to be too happy when he hears that Merle got left behind" Dale says. Merle is handcuffed to a building after he started to threaten the other people of the group. He is still up there. Dale scans the group's faces then sighs when nobody comes up with a solution.

"I'll tell him" T-Dog says suddenly. "I dropped the key to the handcuffs so it is my responsibility"

"I cuffed him. That makes it on me" Rick says suddenly.

"Guys, I don't want to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy" Glenn says carefully. The group falls silent.

"I did what I did. Hell if I'm going to hide from him" T-Dog says confidently, but his body says another story. He is starting to revive an old habit of biting his nails.

"We could always lie" Amy says thoughtfully.

Andrea hugs her then quickly speaks before anyone else can interrupt. "Or the truth. Merle was out of control and would've gotten us all killed. Rick did what needed to be done"

Dale shakes his head furiously. "That's what we tell him? I don't think there is going to be a rational discussion here. Word to the wise, we are going to have our hands full once he and Alice get back from their hunt"

Glenn's head snaps up. "What do you mean by he and Alice? Where is Alice?"

"Daryl took her along on a hunt"

"And you just let her go! What if she gets hurt?" Glenn says angrily. His voice raises a little and a couple of people shush him.

"Glenn, just calm down. Like I told Dale earlier, Daryl will keep her safe. You have nothing to worry about" Amy says calmly while giving a pointed look at Glenn. Glenn doesn't seem to simmer down but he does keep his mouth shut. Throughout the night he sneaks a couple glares towards Dale. He is angry that Dale would let her even near the woods considering she has been sick lately.

After a while of chatting around the fire, people start filing into their tents. Soon enough the fires are put out and the only one awake is Dale, who is watching the campsite with a keen eye and a shotgun.

The sun has already risen when Rick Grimes wakes up. He finds his wife and kid gone from the tent. Rick is just about to rush out in a frenzy when he sees a pair of clean clothes that Carol set for him.

He shields his eyes a little from the morning sun when he steps outside his tent. Instantly he is greeted with smiles and 'good mornings'.

"Good morning, Rick" Carol says while hanging some clothes on several tree branches.

"Mornin'. Did you wash my clothes?"

"Sure did. They are still a little damp but the sun will dry them in no time"

"That's very kind, thank you" Rick says honestly. Carol just smiles and waves it off.

Rick finds his wife and she hands him a bowl of beans. The group is getting down to their last couple of cans of beans. Rick starts to eat it and begins to tell Lori about how he wants to go after the man he left behind.

"You're not seriously going back there?" Lori whispers harshly towards Rick.

"I have to go back. That man is just sitting there and we need to get him back"

Lori opens her mouth, about to say something, when she is interrupted by a scream. The mothers find their children while the rest of the groups grab any weapon they can find.

The small group runs down into the woods until they reach a walker eating the carcass of a deer. The walker is sickly pale and blood covers its mouth and hands. It is so intrigued with the dead deer that it doesn't notice that it is slowly being surrounded.

Amy and Andrea run up then instantly cover their noses and back away. "That is disgusting" Amy whispers before backing up a fair distance with her sister.

The walker finally looks up at the survivors. It is just about to stand up when the group attacks with any sort of weapon they have: a rock, pipe, back of a gun. They stop and see the walker still trying to get to them. Dale raises an ax and chops the head clean off.

"This is the first one we've had up here. They usually don't come this far from the city" Dale says shocked. His mind wanders to Alice and hopes that there aren't any more around the woods.

"They're running out of food, that's why" Jim hypothesized.

Behind the bushes there are crackling sounds. Everyone raises their weapons until they see Alice's face pop out. They breathe a sigh of relief but she isn't bothered about the raised weapons. She is more concerned about the deer. "Son of a bitch!" Dale looks at her in shock and instantly she corrects her mistake. "I'm sorry for my language. Daryl must've gotten to me".

Daryl walks up from behind and sees what the fuss is all about. His reaction is stronger than Alice's. "Son of a fucking bitch! We have been tracking this deer for miles, for this? For a walker to gnaw it up? That... disease-bearing motherless poxy bastard!". He walks over and harshly kicks the body of the walker that is thankfully lying still.

"Is that really necessary?" Dale says bluntly.

Daryl just ignores him and examines the deer meat. He prods it with an arrow to examine what flesh the walker took out of it. "Do you think we could just cut around that chewed part here?"

"I wouldn't risk it" Shane says with no emotion.

Daryl sighs and looks sadly at the deer. "That's a shame. We got a couple of squirrels. Second day in and Alice hits one right between the eyes with the crossbow. Pretty damn good for a first timer. I guess they'll have to do for now".

The head from the walker starts making moaning sounds and clenching its jaw. Daryl frowns then shoots it with one of his arrows. "Come on people! You know it has to be the head". With that he pushes past everyone to walk into camp. "Merle! Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! Got us some food!" Daryl starts yelling throughout the camp.

"Daryl, can we talk" Shane says while he chases after Daryl. Daryl stops then faces Shane.

"What is it?"

"There was a problem in Atlanta". Alice gasps loudly causing many people to look her way.

Daryl's face drops and his once happy face turns into a deep scowl. "Is he dead?"

Shane takes a deep breath. "Here's the thing, we're not sure"

Daryl walks up to Shane and points a finger in his face. "He either is or he ain't. Which one? Dead or not?"

Rick steps between Shane and Daryl in one swift motion. "There is no easy way to say it, but I'll just come out with it". By now a large group has formed around the three people. Alice looks at the new person curiously. She can't help but think that he resembles Carl a lot.

"Who are you?" she asks.

The newcomer gives her one glance before returning his gaze to Daryl, who looks like he is about to snap at any moment. "Rick Grimes"

Daryl licks his chapped lips in frustration. "Rick Grimes, you got something to say to me?"

Rick sighs deeply. "He was a danger to all of us so I handcuffed him on the top of a building. He's still there"

"You're saying that you handcuffed by brother to a building and left him there?!" Daryl yells at Rick, causing him to flinch slightly. Daryl reaches towards his side to grab a large hunting knife. In a matter of seconds, he lunges towards Rick. Rick dodges him easily as Daryl swings at him with the sharp blade. Shane comes up behind him and puts Daryl into a choke hold.

"You better let me go now!" Daryl yells as he tries to struggle out of the tight choke hold. No matter how much he tried, Shane wasn't going to let him go anytime soon.

"Nah, I think I'm good" says Shane.

"Choke hold's illegal" Daryl says maliciously.

Rick squats down so that he is right next to Daryl. "You can file a complaint then. I just want a civilized discussion. Do you think that we can manage that?"

Shane tightens his choke hold which makes Daryl force out a quiet 'fine'. Shane releases Daryl and he stumbles forward slightly. If looks could kill, Rick would be dead by now. The glare that Daryl is giving Rick now is enough to send shivers up Alice's spine. She has never seen him this angry.

"What I did was not on a whim. He was a danger to all of us and something needed to be done"

T-Dog walks up with a pile of firewood in his arms. Once he sees that Daryl is here and the expression on his face, he connects the dots that Rick already told him about Merle. T-Dog drops the sticks then walks over to them. "It's not Rick's fault. I had the key but I tripped. It fell down a drain"

The glare that was once fixated on Rick moves towards T-Dog. Shane stands within arm's reach of Daryl to catch him if he tries to go after T-Dog.

"Is that supposed to make me feel any better?" Daryl sneers.

T-Dog shakes his head. "Maybe this will. I locked the door to the roof with a large chain. Even if there was a dozen geeks trying to crawl through the door, it won't budge. It's gotta count for something, right?"

Daryl stays quiet for a couple of seconds, thinking over what he was just told. "Where can I find him so I can get him back?"

"We'll show you" says Rick. Carl looks at his dad in surprise. Neither his mom or dad told him about this and everything is new to him.

Rick, T-Dog, Daryl, Alice, and Glenn all disperse to get supplies that they will need for another trip into town. Rick is putting on his police uniform when Shane starts to scold him for going back into town.

"So that's it? You're just going to walk off. To hell with everyone?" Shane says sharply in an attempt to keep Rick at camp.

"No, not to hell with everyone"

"I.. I just don't understand what you're trying to do here. Why are you going back and risking your life for a douche bag like Merle Dixon"

Daryl is just passing by when he hears these words exit Shane's mouth. He glares at Shane while walking towards Alice who is near the truck. "You better choose your words more carefully".

Alice is leaning up against the side of the truck when Daryl joins her. Alice squeezes Daryl's hand to try to calm him. "We're going to bring him back, you know that". Daryl yanks his hand away roughly then stares dead ahead.

"I damn well know that" he says sharply. Daryl sighs a little when he sees the slightly hurt expression on Alice's face. In his weird way of an apology, he grabs the knife attached to his belt and hands it to Alice. She takes it into her small hands then looks up at Daryl as if she needs permission to touch any of his knives.

"You might as well take this since we're going into geek territory". Alice keeps her mouth in a thin line and nods.

A little ways from the truck Lori starts yelling at Rick. "So you and Daryl, that's your big plan?"

Rick looks towards Glenn hopefully. Once Glenn realizes Rick expects him to come with, his face drops. "Oh, come on Rick"

"You know that city better than anyone. You've been in and out no problem, you said it yourself. I'd feel so much better with you along" Rick begs.

"I'm coming with too" T-Dog says.

Alice takes the chance to establish her place in the rescue mission. "Me too!" Glenn whips his head towards her and is about to reply when Daryl interrupts him.

"My day just keeps getting better and better. First with the guy who cuffed my brother there in the first place, now the guy who dropped the damn key" Daryl says harshly.

"You see anyone else putting their ass on the line to save your brother's life?" T-Dog says ruthlessly.

"Well, I've seen Alice here with a crossbow. I can only imagine how good she is with a gun. I say me and her go there. It would be much quicker than a whole group of people riding up my ass. At least she knows how to be quiet and not stomp around everywhere like a herd of fucking buffalo"

Glenn jumps into the conversation and quickly turns it towards whether or not Alice should come with them. "Alice cannot come with us. She has been sick-"

"Stop with that bull shit. She was sick weeks ago. She seems perfectly fine to me" Daryl says while staring Glenn in the eye. Glenn, unable to keep eye contact, quickly looks away defeated.

"That's five people on the line Rick! Is it really worth it? We need people here at camp. Walkers are starting to move out of the cities. We need every hand we got!" Shane yells.

"It seems like we need guns. When I first came into Atlanta I dropped a bag of guns that I looted from the sheriff's department. It's just sitting on the street, waiting to be picked up" Rick says much calmer than Shane.

Shane's eyes twinkle with interest at the thought of more guns. "Ammo too?"

"At least 700 rounds". All of the sudden Carl runs up to his dad.

"Dad, I don't want you to go" he says quietly.

"Shane's right, Rick. It's not worth it! Merle Dixon is not worth any one of your lives. Even with guns thrown in. Don't go" Lori begs. She grabs Carl's shoulders protectively. Daryl throws a glare her way, but she doesn't notice. And if she does, then she chooses to ignore it.

"I owe a debt to a man and his kid. In the bag is a walkie-talkie that I said I would communicate with them through until they got to Atlanta. If I don't warn them, they will fall into the same trap. I need that bag" Rick says firmly. Lori mumbles out a quiet 'alright' and doesn't press the issue any further.

Dale walks up to Alice and gives his niece a small hug before she leaves. "You will probably need some bolt cutters for the chain". He hands her the bolt cutters and she hands it to Glenn. "Be safe out there. Use your brain and don't get killed. Oh, and make sure T-Dog brings back my tools, will you"

"Of course, Dale". They hug one more time before she enters the back of the truck with Daryl. The truck then starts to go down the road to head towards Atlanta. Everyone in the truck is just praying that Merle is still on top of that building.


	7. Chapter 7

The truck pulls down the dirt road and soon enough they reach tar. They start going faster towards the city down the freeway. Atlanta's tall buildings start to seem bigger the closer the truck is. Every so often they would pass a walker roaming around on the road, but it never caused them any trouble.

Glenn reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small knife. He hands it to Alice who refuses. "Come on. If you're going into geek territory you need something to protect yourself" Glenn continues to try to force it in her hands.

Alice shakes her head once again and gets the much larger knife Daryl gave her. Glenn's eyes go popping out of his skull then he glares at Daryl, knowing that he was the one who gave her the knife. "You gave her a knife?" His glare doesn't last long because he needs to keep an eye on the road to avoid abandoned cars and the occasional walkers.

Daryl can't help but roll his eyes at Glenn. He raises his hands in defense. "Didn't know I needed your permission to give her a knife"

"You don't but-"

"No buts. She has a damn knife so she's fine" Daryl says smoothly. "Now shut up and drive so we can save my brother that you left on that damn building"

Glenn speeds up a little until they reach a set of railroads tracks. He stops the truck right behind a wire fence that closes off the tracks from the rest of the city.

"Why are we stopping?" Alice asks as she looks out the window. There is still several miles before they get into the heart of Atlanta.

Glenn looks back at her from the front seat. "We have to walk from here. This truck will make too much noise in the city. It would attract every geek for miles".

They exit the truck and approach the chain link fence. Rick cuts through the fence then crawls through the hole he made. Next is Daryl, then Glenn, then lastly Alice.

"Merle first or the bag of guns?" Rick says while looking carefully for any walkers. His eyes check every corner for any sign of movement. When he sees nothing there, he shifts his gaze to the now furious Daryl.

"Merle! We aren't even having this conversation" Daryl says angrily. His hand heads towards his knife, but he pulls back before anyone notices. The last thing he needs is for someone to put him in a headlock again. Not while Merle is handcuffed on top of a building.

"We are. Glenn, where do you think we should go first" Rick turns to face Glenn who looks stunned that he would even ask.

"What! Why me?" Glenn looks up at Rick in pure surprise. He never thought that he would be the one making the important decisions.

"Because you know the geography of this city. It's your call".

Glenn closes his eyes to mentally picture the path they would need to take. "Merle" Glenn says with uncertainty. Then he says more confidently, "Yeah, Merle is closest. The guns mean doubling back so Merle has to be first".

"Damn right Merle is first" Daryl mumbles to himself.

The group starts heading into the city, unsure of what is ahead of them.

Back at the camp Jacqui, Carol, Andrea, and Amy are all by the water's edge doing laundry. A little ways down along the shore of the quarry, Shane and Carl are trying to catch frogs with no luck. Even though they aren't catching any frogs, they seem to be having a fun time. The women can't help but watch the two have fun while they are stuck doing everyone's laundry.

"I miss my Maytag" Carol says randomly. The women start laughing at Carol whose cheeks turn a light pink. "I didn't mean to say that. I was just thinking about everything that I miss and it just came out"

"Well, I miss my Benz, my sat nav" Andrea says dreamily.

"I miss coffee". The women all murmur in approval. "No, scratch that. I miss my coffee maker with that duel-drip filter and built-in grinder, oh honey it was the best" Jacqui says just as dreamily as Andrea did before.

Amy bends down and dunks a shirt into the water. Once she stands up and she says what she misses. "I miss my computer... and texting".

"I miss my vibrator" says Andrea. All of the women start laughing like crazy at her comment.

"Me too" Carol says suddenly. If it is even possible, the women are laughing even harder.

Ed looks up from where he is sitting to see the women throwing their heads back in laughter. He snuffs out the cigarette that he was smoking and decides to see what everyone is laughing at.

"What are you laughing at" Ed says. The laughter starts to die down and the women get back to their laundry.

"Just swapping war stories, Ed" Andrea says while chuckling a little.

Ed starts to walk closer until he is at an uncomfortable distance. He shoots daggers at Andrea through his eyes, making her turn around once she realizes he isn't leaving.

Andrea raises one blonde eyebrow at him. "Problem, Ed?"

"Nothing that concerns you. And you better focus on your work. This isn't any comedy club" he says with venom dripping from his voice.

Andrea's eyes squint in a defiant look. "You don't like how your laundry is done. Do it your damn self". She throws the wet shirt towards Ed who just throws it on the dirt, messing up all the cleaning she had done earlier.

He shakes his head with a scowl. "Ain't my job, missy"

Andrea steps forward a little when Carol grabs her arm. "Andrea, please don't" she pleads with her. Even though she heard Carol, Andrea chooses to ignore her and continue her argument with Ed.

"What is your job then? Sitting on your lazy ass, eating all our food? Maybe smoking a couple cigarettes?"

"Well it sure as hell isn't listening to a snobby bitch" Ed snarls. He grabs Carol's arm and starts to pull her away. "Come on, let's go". Carol looks down at the ground and begins to go away with Ed.

Andrea steps between the couple to stop Carol from going with him. Carol's protests are drowned out by the verbal battle between Ed and Andrea. Andrea stands up tall, but no matter how straight she stands, she is no match for Ed.

"Hey, don't go thinking I won't knock you around just because you are some college-educated cooze. Now you come on now or you're going to regret it later" Ed threatens. Carol starts to move forward again but can't because all the women are shielding her from her husband.

"So she can just show up with fresh bruises? We all see it, Ed" Jacqui says furiously.

Ed just laughs at her. "Just stay out of this. Now come on! This ain't any of y'all's business. Now I'm done talking to you. Come on, Carol".

"No, Carol don't" Andrea says when Carol pushes past them.

"Carol"

"You don't have to go-"

The words get through to her and Carol begins to wonder why she should go with Ed. Carol slips her hand away from Ed's, making him spin around and slap her face hard. The sound echoes throughout the quarry and reaches Shane's ears, who have been watching the confrontation.

"You don't tell me what! I tell you what!" Ed yells. Carol automatically cowers back out of his reach.

He raises his hand again when he is suddenly pulled back by Shane. Shane throws Ed to the ground and punches him in the face repeatedly. With every punch Ed's face becomes more and more bloodied and disfigured. All the while this is happening Carol is crying and being held back by Jacqui.

Shane keeps on punching Ed. Once it becomes clear the Shane isn't going to stop anytime soon, the women start yelling at him to stop.

"Shane, please stop!" Andrea yells.

"Stop it! Stop!" Amy yells along with her sister.

After several more punches, Shane stops then grabs Ed's collar to bring him up close enough to hear his threats. "You put your hands on Carol, your little girl, or anyone else in this camp one more time, I will kill you. Do you hear me? I will beat you until you are dead. Do you hear me?"

Ed manages to whisper a quiet yes before Shane releases him. Instantly Carol runs up to her husband's side and sobs. Even though he has repeatedly hurt her, Carol still loves Ed yet at the same time hates him. She just can't help caring for him.

In Atlanta, the small group has arrived at the right building. Alice pulls out the knife and prepares for whatever that is heading her way.

Rick pushes open the door. The store echoes with the sound of the small bell that sounds when the door is opened. The walker in the back of the store doesn't notice and continues to walk slowly around the perimeter of the room.

Daryl raises his crossbow and shoots a walker on the bottom floor of the building. It collapses to the ground with the arrow sticking through its forehead.

He walks over to pull his arrow out of the head when he laughs a little. "Damn. You are one ugly skank". Daryl turns towards Glenn and raises an eyebrow. "Well, are you going to lead the way to the roof?"

Glenn nods quickly. Taking the lead, he runs up a series of stairs until they reach the roof door. Just like T-Dog said, the chain is still intact. Nothing could've gotten on the roof to kill Merle. This manages to calm Daryl a bit, but he won't be satisfied until he sees his brother alive.

T-Dog takes the bolt cutters and cuts through the chain. The metal chain drops to the ground in a loud clang. Daryl pushes everyone aside so that he is the first one on the roof.

"Merle! Merle!" he yells desperately. Suddenly he stops in his tracks. He takes a few steps closer to examine the mysterious object before letting out a choked sob. Alice walks over to where Daryl is now pacing in anger and sees a severed hand lying next to a bloody saw and handcuffs. A wave of nausea washes over her like a tidal wave. She rushes over to the side of the building and pukes her breakfast on the street below.

Her throat begins to sting and tears fill her eyes. For some reason she feels an overwhelming sadness. It's not like the cared much for Merle, which she didn't, but she can't stand to see Daryl look so helpless. Daryl glances towards the hand once more before pointing his crossbow straight at T-Dog's head. T-Dog closes his eyes as if he is accepting the inevitable.

In response to Daryl's rash actions, Rick pulls out his gun. He points it straight at Daryl's temple.

"I won't hesitate. I don't care if every walker in town hears it" Rick says honestly. Daryl continues to hold his crossbow up without any sign of putting it down.

Alice walks over and touches Daryl's arm lightly. His head snaps towards hers in lightning fast speed. "Please, just put the crossbow down. Killing T-Dog won't help Merle". Alice pleads with Daryl with her eyes. After several seconds of staring, Daryl caves in. He throws his crossbow over his shoulder where it should be. Rick hesitatingly puts his gun back in his holder while keeping an eye on Daryl.

"You got a rag or something?" Daryl asks.

T-Dog reaches into his pocket to reveal a red bandana. Daryl snatches it from his hands and heads towards his brother's severed hand. He takes the hand and folds the bandana around it. Glenn and Alice can't help but gag a little while they watch him. They both are relieved once the severed body part is hidden by the fabric of the bandana.

"I guess the blade was too dull to cut the handcuffs. Ain't that a bitch" Daryl says nonchalantly. Without asking permission, Daryl places the hand in Glenn's backpack. Glenn tries to hold back the urge to vomit like Alice did earlier. Alice on the other hand doesn't hold back and runs to the side of the building again. T-Dog rushes over to her and holds back her hair as she leans over the side of the building. He rubs her back as she grips the side of the building for support.

"He must've made a tourniquet... maybe with his belt. There would've been much more blood otherwise". The group is about to leave the rooftop to search someplace else when Alice notices a small trail of blood near the side of the building. She starts walking that way and it takes a while for the group to notice what she is doing.

"Where are you going, Alice" Daryl yells over at her. He watches her curiously as Alice stares at the ground.

"There's a trail of blood. It's leading over there". Alice points towards another door on the building. Daryl rushes over to see the blood for himself. His face lights up with hope and he quickly follows the trail. T-Dog collects the tools abandoned on the roof then eventually joins up with the rest of the group.

Daryl rips open a door and reveals a stairway. "Merle! Merle, you in here?" he yells down. Daryl's voice echoes a little throughout the room. Glenn hushes him but Daryl ignores him. Without thinking properly, Daryl rushes down the stairs full speed. He dashes down the stairs until the trail of blood leads him to an office. A walker looks over at the group and starts to walk over to them. It makes an awful noise when Daryl kills it with an arrow.

On the floor are two walkers laying down with office supplies lodged in their heads. "Had enough in him to take out these bitches. One handed. Toughest asshole I have ever met. Feed him a hammer, he'll crap out nails" Daryl says with pride.

"Any man can pass out from blood loss, no matter how tough he is" Rick says rationally.

Daryl runs goes around the corner, following the trail of blood. "Merle!"

"We aren't alone here, remember?" hisses Glenn. He walks a little closer to Alice just in case he needs to protect her. Even though she has a large knife to defend herself, Glenn really doubts that she would be able to defend herself against a walker.

"Screw that! Like Rick said, he could be bleeding out" Daryl hisses back with more anger than before. They walk into a small kitchen and are overwhelmed with the smell of burnt flesh. Alice covers her nose and Glenn opens a small window in hopes of it airing the smell out. Rick walks over to a small stove with the gas still lit. He examines the set up and comes to a conclusion that Merle cauterised the wound.

Daryl walks up behind him and looks at the stove. "What's that burnt stuff?"

"Skin. He had to have cauterised the stump" Rick crinkles his nose in disgust. Daryl breaks out into a 'I told you so' smile.

"I told you that he is one tough son of a bitch. Nobody can kill Merle, but Merle" Daryl says with even more pride than before.

Rick shakes his head. "Don't take that on faith. He still lost a lot of blood".

Alice walks over to a broken window with blood on the window sill. "That didn't stop him from breaking out of this hell hole" she says.

Glenn stares out the window wide-eyed. "He would leave the building? Why would he do that?"

Daryl shrugs then joins the two near the window. "Why wouldn't he? He's out there alone for all that he knows. He's just... surviving".

T-Dog watches them look out the window from afar. He scoffs at Daryl. "You call that surviving? Just wandering around in the streets full of walkers, maybe passing out? What are his odds out there?"

"No worse than being handcuffed and left behind by you pricks! You couldn't kill him. Ain't so worried about some dumb dead bastard" Daryl sneers.

"What about 1,000 dumb dead bastards? Different story?" Rick says angrily.

"Why don't you take a tally? Do what you want, I'm going after him". Daryl turns to leave but Alice grabs his arm. He shakes her off but she runs in front of him and puts her hands on his chest to push him back.

"Please Daryl, just wait" Alice pleads. Nobody else makes a move towards Daryl to keep him here. Not even Rick.

"Get your hands off of me" he glares at her. His large hands engulf hers as he removes her hands from him and keeps walking forward.

"Just think for a minute!"

"We don't have a minute!" he growls.

"I don't blame you. He's family. I ended up having to stab mine in the head with a knife. I then searched for my parents only to find them dead. Dale is the only person I have left, and god knows that if Dale was in Merle's shoes now, I wouldn't waste a second if it means finding him dead or alive". Daryl stops walking and turns around to listen to what Alice has to say. She takes a shaky breath in and continues. "Merle can't get far with that injury. I say we check around the block, but only if we keep a level head"

He thinks for a couple of seconds before walking back to the group. "I can do that".

"Only if we get those guns first" T-Day says hastily. "I'm not strolling around Atlanta with just my good intentions".

"Glenn, what do you propose we do?" Rick asks politely. Glenn thinks for a minute for gathering kitchen supplies: salt, pepper, straws, and spoons.

"Glenn, I trust you and everything, but I don't think making a meal is going to help us get any closer to the guns" Alice says sarcastically.

Glenn glares at her momentarily before setting everything on the floor. He begins to arrange it in a specific way that seems to make sense to him. Rick stares at the setup and tries to make sense of it, but fails.

"This salt shaker, is Alice. Rick is the pepper. Daryl is the spoon, and T-Dog is the straw. My plan is that I'm going to grab the bag of guns then run either through this alley or this one down here. I will be in and out. Really quick" Glenn says confidently. He looks at everyone and when he sees their faces, his own begins to drop.

Rick clears his throat then sits on the ground next to Glenn. "You're not doing this alone".

Daryl joins the two on the ground with Alice following. "Even I think it's a bad idea and I don't like you much" Daryl says while he looks at the plan on the ground.

Glenn sighs then begins to draw on the ground with a small piece of chalk he just found. He draws the alleys, tanks, and the bag of guns. "Right there, that's the tank. Five blocks from where we are now. This is the alley I dragged Rick into when we first met. That's were Daryl and I will go".

"Why me? Why not take Rick or T-Dog" he says purposefully leaving out Alice since he knows that Glenn would never purposefully let her near a walker. Even Daryl feels unsure about letting her near any of those walking deathtraps.

"Your crossbow is quieter than a gun. While Daryl is here in the alley, I will run up the street and grab the bag"

Alice points towards her, T-Dog's, and Rick's objects that represent them on the homemade map. "Where do we go?"

"You guys will be in this alley two blocks down. I might not be able to come back the same way. Walkers might cut me off so I won't be able to get back to Daryl. I'll go forward to where you guys are instead. Whichever direction you go, I will be covered. Afterwards, no matter what happens, we meet here".

Daryl looks at Glenn curiously. "Hey kid, what did you do before all this?"

"Delivered pizzas. Why?''

The group starts to exit the building when Alice surprises Glenn with a huge hug. "Promise me you'll be safe down there"

He hesitantly places his hands on her back. "I promise nothing will happen"


	8. Chapter 8

Everyone moves to their correct alley and waits for Glenn to start down the street. Glenn stands next to Daryl as he tries to picture the street in his head. If everything was left the same as it was before, he can picture the run to the tank down to the last detail. The last time he was here there were several cars on the sidewalk that he can use to hide behind. The last time he was here there were also tons of walkers. That is what seems to worry him the most.

"You got some balls for a Chinaman." Daryl says. He loads an arrow into his crossbow carefully.

Glenn rolls his eyes at the redneck. "I'm Korean." He reminds Daryl.

"Whatever."

Glenn leans out of the alley and takes a look down the street. The crowd of walkers has seemed to spread out. If he's going to do this, he needs to go now.

"It's now or never" he mutters.

Glenn pops out of the alley and runs down the sidewalk. He ducks between anything that can shield him from the walkers roaming into the street. A couple of walkers notice him but don't move towards him right away. Glenn keeps moving as fast as he can towards the bag.

He ducks behind a car only to have a walker trapped by a seat belt reach for him. Its hands nearly grab him but Glenn jumps out of the way just in time. By now the walkers are starting to realize his presence. Several limp after Glenn, but he is too fast. He weaves in between road blocks and cars until he is right next to the infamous tank where Rick was trapped.

Right as he picks up the bag, he notices that the walkers are about to close in on him. Glenn runs forward but stops for a couple of seconds to grab the sheriff hat that Rick dropped when he first came to Atlanta.

A walker grabs at Glenn's shirt, but he dodges it expertly. Without missing a beat, Glenn keeps running towards the alley Daryl is waiting in. He sprints past the walkers and into the alley to see Daryl pressing a boy a bit younger than Glenn's age against the wall. A hunting knife is pressed to his neck and Daryl looks like he is about to kill him.

"Aydúdame!" the boy yells, drawing some walkers to the alley. He squirms against Daryl's hold.

"Shut up!" Daryl yells back louder. He places a dirty hand over the boy's mouth to keep him from yelling again.

Two other Mexican men come down the alley. They tear Daryl off of the boy and start kicking him. He protects his head with hands and wait for them to stop, all the while shouting profanity at them.

One of them looks up and stares at the bag in Glenn's hand. Glenn's eyes widen in fear when he realizes that the men will be after him next.

"That's it! That's the bag! Take it, Vato. Take it!" One of them yells.

The man rushes towards Glenn for the bag of guns. The other man runs over with him and grabs Glenn. A silver car pulls up behind them and they start dragging Glenn to it. Daryl quickly shoots an arrow into one of the man's butt, making him cry out in pain.

"Get off me! Daryl, Daryl!" Glenn yells. The men tighten their grip on Glenn's arms.

The arrow didn't stop them from stuffing Glenn into the car and driving away.

Alice, T-Dog, and Rick all rush into the alley just in time to see Glenn being kidnapped by the mysterious men. Walkers are starting to rush towards them so Alice closes the fence's gate to buy them some time.

Daryl rushes over to the boy who is now slumped against the wall crying. With one hand he lifts him up and presses him against the wall.

"Woah, woah! Calm down" Rick says urgently.

Daryl ignores Rick completely. "I'm going to kick your nuts into your mouth. Do you hear me?" he snarls. Daryl tightens his hold so that the boy cannot escape.

"Please, just let me go" the boy whimpers out. He looks out to the road in sadness. He can't believe that Felipe left him here with this lunatic.

"Chill out!" T-Dog yells. He grabs Daryl's arm but he just pushes him back hard.

"They took Glenn. That little bastard and his friends! I'm going to stomp your face in!" Daryl growls.

Alice looks at the other end in the alley. She gasps, gaining everyone's attention. "Guys, we got to go. We're cut off". Sure enough walkers are starting to fill into the other side of the alley, all of them dead set on killing the group.

Rick leads the way into the closest available building. Once they are all inside, they barricade the door with cabinets and tables. Lastly, Alice turns the lock. Walkers scratch on the door, begging for a way in but they never will get in. Not with everything the group has blocking the door.

Daryl grabs the boy's arm and yanks him to the closest chair. The boy yelps when he is pushed on it.

"Daryl, calm down" Alice says carefully, not wanting to anger Daryl more than he already is.

"How can I be calm?" Daryl yells back. Alice flinches at his sudden outburst. He nervously paces back and forth.

Alice walks past him and kneels in front of the boy. He watches Daryl in fear but feels more comfortable when Alice is between him and Daryl.

"What's your name?" Alice puts a kind smile on that she always used when she was performing. The boy noticeably calms down and can't help but smile back a little.

"Miguel"

Alice grins happily at his cooperation. "Hello Miguel. My name is Alice, this is-"

"Don't tell him our damn names!" Daryl says angrily. A vein bulges on his forehead. He stops pacing and instead focuses his anger on trying to burn Miguel with his eyes. Alice glares back at Daryl but he doesn't notice since he is too busy staring at Miguel.

Alice turns back to Miguel and does her best to ignore Daryl. "Miguel, you need to tell us where the people you were with went" she asks kindly. With every kind word Daryl frowns more and more. He can't seem to understand how she can be sweet to Miguel when his group took Glenn.

"Sorry beautiful, I ain't telling" Miguel says while shaking his head. Daryl takes a step towards him but T-Dog holds him back the best that he can.

"Jesus, man. What the hell happened back there?" T-Dog asks while trying to keep Daryl from attacking Miguel.

"I told you, this little turd and his douche friends jumped me in the alley!" he points at Miguel accusingly.

"You were the one who jumped me, pato! Screaming about trying to find his brother like it's my fault" Miguel sneers only angering Daryl more. By now he is all but steaming from the ears.

Daryl takes a deep breath to keep him from attacking Miguel. "They took Glenn. Could've taken Merle too"

Miguel chuckles a bit. "Merle? What kind of name is that? I wouldn't even name my dog Merle"

Daryl snaps. He rushes forward to kick him but Alice stands between them. He tries to get around her but she is always in his way. "Move, woman!" He screams.

"No! You're going to hurt him!" She screams back.

He groans in frustration but stops trying to murder Miguel. Daryl walks towards Glenn's bag that he dropped while he was kidnapped, and rips out Merle's severed hand. Alice gags a little and avoids watching it flop around in Daryl's hands. She covers her eyes as he shoves the hand in Miguel's face.

"Want to see what happened to the last guy that pissed me off?" Miguel is visibly freaked out by the hand and begins to back away. Every inch he backs up Daryl is another inch closer. The back of the chair hits the wall, leaving Miguel no more room to back away. "I'll start with the feet this time" Daryl says with a cruel expression on his face.

Finally Rick comes to his sense and pulls Daryl away from Miguel. Miguel's face is locked in horror as he eyes the hand still being held by Daryl.

"The men you were with took our friend. We just want to talk to them. See if we can work something out" Rick says much calmer than Daryl has been acting. Miguel nods towards Alice.

"Fine, but I'm only talking to her. She is the only person here that doesn't seem completely crazy"

"You aren't getting fucking near her" Daryl says angrily. He tries to break out of Rick's tight grasp but that only makes him hold on tighter.

"Daryl, calm down. It'll be fine" Alice reassures him. He simmers down but is still furious. Alice walks up to Miguel who is staring at Daryl cautiously. It's as if he expects him to blow up any second. "So where are they?" She asks quietly. Miguel looks up at her and sighs.

"Felipe is going to be pissed that I told you. They're in the old nursing home. I think it's called Spring Oaks or something"

Alice's eyes widen when she realizes she knows exactly where that place is. "That's pretty smart, actually. It has a lot of gates you have to go through to get in and it's on the edge of Atlanta. I wouldn't be surprised if they haven't seen one walker since this whole thing started"

"You know where it is?" T-Dog asks curiously.

Alice shrugs. "Yeah. I used to work there before I was fired"

Daryl begins to tie Miguel up with rope and covers his eyes with a thick, black fabric. Rick watches carefully to make sure he doesn't hurt him. T-Dog nudges Alice's arm. "Why were you fired?"

She smiles mischievously to herself as she remembers her days working at the nursing home. Since her family had spent a lot of money moving to Atlanta, they had barely any extra. To help her family, Alice would steal food from the cafeteria and bring it home so that Paul could get enough to eat. Being a growing eight year old at the time, Paul needed the food more than the rest.

"I stole one too many pudding cups." She says finally.

T-Dog laughs before following Daryl and Miguel out the door. The walkers have started to clear out so they can run across the street safely.

"Alright, lead the way" Rick says to Alice. She nods quickly before looking down the road. There are barely any walkers in sight. Alice leads them through alleys and back roads until they reach the familiar gateway to the nursing home.

Rick takes the bag of guns and hands one out to everyone, except Miguel of course. Alice grips the object with uncertainly. Daryl stares at her while she tries to get the right hold on the weapon. "You ever shoot a gun before?" He asks while trying to hide a laugh.

Alice looks up at Daryl then smiles. "No, but I can pull a trigger". Daryl chuckles a little but quickly hides it behind an intimidating expression. Rick hands T-Dog a sniper rifle then points to a close by roof top.

"Go up there and if things get hairy, help us out" Rick commands.

"Just one problem, how the hell am I supposed to get up there?" T-Dog asks while examining the wall. High above there is a metal ladder but nobody can reach it. Alice looks towards the drain pipe then smiles wildly.

"Go up the drain pipe." She offers.

The group look at her like she's stupid, making her frown deeply. "No, seriously. It's attached pretty well to the side of the building and it's easy to climb up these things".

T-Dog shoves the sniper rifle her way. "Then you climb it!"

"Fine, I will!" T-Dog's eyes go wide when he realizes she is actually considering this.

"Alice, do you really think that's the best idea? We can just go around the building to look for a way up. Maybe there's a roof access" Rick says carefully. He tries to take the gun from her hands but she holds on tight.

"Before the world went crazy, I was a trapeze artist. This," she points up to the building, "is nothing. I think I can handle it."

They leave her alone when she swings the gun on her back. She makes sure the strap is firmly connected so it won't fly off while she is climbing. Alice grips the drain pipe between her hands then places a foot on the wall. She moves up and up until she reaches the top of the building. Everyone looks at her in amazement.

"Told you I could handle it. Easy." She says smugly. Alice takes her position while the rest of the group walks towards the building.

"One wrong move and you get an arrow in your ass. Just so you know" Daryl says like it's the most normal thing ever to Miguel.

"G's going to take the arrow out of my ass and stick it in yours. Just so you know" Miguel retorts.

Rick looks at the boy. He is visibly scared but he seems so confident in the person named G. "G?"

"Guillermo. He's the man here"

"Then let's have a little chat with Guillermo"

The walk into the courtyard in front of the building. Before they could get any closer, the doors open to reveal several people pointing guns in their direction. The person Miguel called Guillermo walks out and glares at Daryl, Rick, and T-Dog. His eyes shift to Miguel.

"You okay little man?" he says in concern.

"They're gonna cut off my feet, carnel" Miguel says with a slight tremor in his voice.

He looks at Rick's outfit suspiciously. "Cops do that?". Rick looks down to see that he is in his sheriff uniform.

Miguel shakes his head furiously. "Not him. The redneck puto here. He cut off some dude's hand! He showed it to me"

Daryl slaps the back of Miguel's head as if to say 'shut up'. Guillermo glares at Daryl. Felipe walks up from behind the group and his eyes widen when he sees Daryl. He raises his gun to have a perfect aim on his chest. "That's the vato right there! He shot me in the ass with an arrow"

Guillermo raises a hand to hold Felipe back. "Chill, ese. Chill. That's true? He wants Miguelito's feet? That's sick, man"

Rick clears his throat to divert the attention towards him. "We were hoping for a calm discussion"

"That hillbilly jumps Felipe's cousin, beats on him, threatens to cut off his feet, Felipe gets an arrow in the ass, and you want a calm discussion? Sheriff, you fascinate me". Guillermo shakes his head in disbelief.

"Heat of the moment. Mistakes were made on both sides". Rick shrugs like it was nothing.

"Who's that dude to you anyways?"

"He's one of our group, more or less. I'm sure you have a few like him".

Daryl steps forward and is greeted by all the guns being pointed towards him. "You got my brother in there?"

Guillermo laughs a little. "Fresh out of white boys. But I've got an Asian. Interested?"

"I have one of yours, you have one of mine. Sounds like a fair trade"

He shakes his head. "Doesn't sound even to me"

"G, come on man" Miguel pleads. Guillermo looks at him for a seconds before looking back at Rick.

"My people go attacked. Where's the compensation for their pain and suffering? More importantly, where's my bag of guns?"

Rick's eyebrows furrow in confusion. "Guns?"

"The bag Miguel saw on the street. The bag Felipe and Jorge went to go get. The bag full of guns" Guillermo says in a bored tone.

"I think you're mistaken"

"I don't think so"

"No. About it being yours. It's my bag of guns" Rick says sharply.

Guillermo licks his dry lips. "The bag was in the street. Anyone could come along and say it was theirs. I'm supposed to take your word? What's to stop my people from unloading on yours to take back what is mine?"

"You could do that, or not" Rick looks up at Alice who is pointing the sniper rifle straight at Guillermo. She has no clue how to use this gun so she prays that it never comes down to her having to pull the trigger. Alice looks through the scope and positions it straight over his chest. One shot from her and he will be dead. That is, if she can figure out how to work the gun.

Guillermo looks up at her then quickly looks away towards the roof of the nursing home. "Oye!"

Two men appear on the roof. They are holding someone who has a black bag on their head. When the tear off the bag, they reveal that Glenn is underneath it. He looks dazed in the bright light but he can make out the group talking to Guillermo down below.

"I see two options. You come back with Miguel and my guns, everyone walks. You come back locked and loaded. Well, we'll just see what side spills more blood". With that they walk into the building, leaving Alice, Rick, T-Dog, and Daryl outside in confusion.

They walk over to the building with the intention of helping Alice down. She looks over the edge in delight. Little did they know that Alice plans to jump. Alice hasn't felt the feeling of falling for weeks. It's like it's a drug that she's heavily addicted to. She misses tightropes and flipping through the air. Just being on the ground isn't satisfying enough for her.

She examines the drop and concludes that if she does jump, she will be fine. One time she fell from a high wire and was okay. Of course, there was a net underneath her at the time.

Alice steps on the edge and everyone's eyes go wide.

"What the hell are you doing?" Daryl says. He is terrified that she is going to jump and hurt herself.

"I'm going to jump" she says with a smile, her hands are shaking in excitement.

"Are you crazy? You're going to kill yourself!" T-Dog says, just as terrified that she will injure herself.

She shrugs and steps closer to the edge. "Please, I used to jump off of heights taller than this for fun. This is tiny compared to what I've jumped from"

"Just climb down the way you came up!" Daryl yells.

Alice ignores him and jumps off the building. The air pushes against her, trying to break her fall. She laughs as the familiar feeling of butterflies in her stomach appears from the sudden drop. Right when she is about to land on the ground, a set of arms catch her. Once she wipes her wind-blown hair out of her face, she sees a very angry Daryl holding her in his arms.

"Nice catch, Daryl" Alice says cheerfully. She removes herself from his arms and stands on the ground. T-Dog and Rick stare at her like she's insane. "Don't look at me like that! It's a lot of fun, trust me. I have done that sort of thing since I was a teenager" she waves it off like it's nothing.

Daryl stares at Alice in interest. No other girl that he has known would jump off of a building just for fun. All the while she was falling to the earth, she looked like she was having the time of her life. It's like she lives for these kinds of things. Daryl shakes his head free of thoughts about Alice and back to how they are going to get Glenn back.

The small group returns to the building they were in after Glenn was kidnapped. Miguel goes back to his place on the chair. Rick takes the bag of guns and sets it on a table.

"Them guns are worth more than gold. Gold can't protect your family or put food on the table. You're going to give it up for that kid?" Daryl asks Rick.

T-Dog nods in agreement. "If I knew we'd get Glenn back I might agree. But do you really think that 'G' guy is going to just hand him over?"

"You calling him a liar?" Miguel speaks up from his corner in the room. When Daryl slaps him, Alice lets out a gasp in shock. Miguel's face is now red and splotchy. Daryl hit him too hard.

"Do you think slapping him is going to fix anything" Alice hisses at him. "But T-Dog has a point. Can we trust his word?"

Daryl walks next to Alice around the small table. He stands uncomfortably close but Alice doesn't dare move away. "No, question is what are you willing to bet on it? Could be more than them guns. Could be your life. Glenn worth that to you?" Daryl asks. His words gain a glare from both T-Dog and Alice.

"What life I have to owe him. I was nobody to Glenn. Just some idiot stuck in a tank. He could've walked away, but he didn't. He risked his life for me so I will do the same" Rick says confidently. He was not going to let them kill Glenn.

"So you're going to hand the guns over?"

"I didn't say that. There's nothing keeping you three here. You guys should head back to camp"

T-Dog shakes his head. "And tell your family what?"

"I'm not leaving Glenn with those people" Alice says softly. "He's my friend. I know that if I was in the same place as him, he would get me back. We're going to get Glenn and head to camp together"

They all nod in agreement and zip up the bag, ready to get Glenn back. Alice grabs a gun and tucks it into the waistband of her pants. She is going to get Glenn back if it's the last thing she does.


	9. Chapter 9

The group walks towards the nursing home, each of them armed with a gun. Miguel's hands are tied behind his back and is being held by Rick. Once the enter the nursing home courtyard, the door slides open with a loud clang. Rick forces Miguel towards the door, causing him to stumble. He has to shuffle his feet to keep himself from falling on his face.

Guillermo is standing there with many men with guns behind him. Every one of them point towards the group.

Guillermo looks at the guns in the groups hands sternly. He raises an eyebrow. He has to admit he is surprised they have enough guts to go against his group. "I see my guns, but they're not all in the bag."

Rick shakes his head slightly. "That's because they aren't yours. I thought I mentioned that."

Felipe points towards the group, but undoubtedly glares at Daryl while he tries to convince Guillermo to shoot on the group. "Let's shoot these fools right now! Just unload on their asses."

Guillermo looks at Felipe then back to Rick. He makes several tsk noises. "I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation." He says calmly.

"No, I'm pretty clear". Rick takes a knife and cuts the cord around Miguel's hands. Miguel rushes forward and as far away from the small group as possible. The crowd opens up and lets Miguel in to safety. "You have your man, now I want mine."

"I'm going to chop up your boy and feed him to the dogs. They're the evilest, nastiest, man-eating bitches you ever saw. I picked them up from Satan at a yard sale! I told you how it was going to be. Are you deaf?" Guillermo threatens.

"No, my hearing is fine. You said come locked and loaded". Everyone cocks their gun except for Alice, who unfortunately has no clue how. Nonetheless she keeps her gun pointed towards the group of people, hoping that they don't notice that she has no clue how to use a gun. For all she knows it's not even loaded or stuck on safety!

"Felipe! Felipe!" an old voice echoes throughout the room. An old woman pushes through the crowd to get to Felipe. Guillermo groans in annoyance.

"Abuela, go back with the others... now." Felipe says gently.

"Get that woman out of the line of fire!" Daryl says angrily. Felipe glares at him then tries to guide the old woman away but she continues to stand her ground.

Guillermo speaks up. "Abuela, listen to your mijo, okay? This is not the place for you right now."

She clings to Felipe's arm. "Mr. Gilbert is having trouble breathing. He needs his asthma stuff. Carlitos couldn't find it. He needs his medicine."

"¡Abuela! Ven conmigo por favor" Felipe says more rashly this time. He looks at the guns nervously.

The old woman just notices the small group standing there with guns pointed. "Who are these people?" She asks quietly.

"Abuela, ven conmigo." Felipe repeats.

"Don't you take him." she pleads while looking at Rick.

Rick looks just as confused as everyone else. He lowers his gun slightly. "Ma'am?"

"Felipe is a good boy. He has his trouble but he pulls himself together. We need him here." She explains.

"Ma'am, I am not here to arrest your grandson." Rick says carefully.

"Then why are you here?"

"They're... they're helping us find a missing person. Fella named Glenn."

Her eyes instantly light up. "The Asian boy. He's with Mr. Gilbert. Come, come. I'll show you." The frail old woman walks towards Rick and grabs his hand. She slowly but surely starts to guide him through the crowd of men and further into the nursing home.

"Let them through!" Guillermo yells. Instantly the crowd splits to allow the group walk through. The men glare at Alice, T-Dog, Daryl, and Rick as they walk by, but they don't do anything.

They walk through the white hallways. The longer they walk, the closer the voices are. "Abuela, take me to him" Felipe mumbles. His grandmother takes his hand and leads him towards the gymnasium. Alice passes by rooms filled with elderly people being taken care of by someone.

"Daryl?" Alice whispers

"What?" He hisses back. Daryl keeps his eyes on Felipe's back, looking for any sudden movement towards a gun or any weapon.

"I think they're taking care of the patients."

Daryl looks into another room to see the same thing: an elderly patient being taken care of by someone. "I think so too." He says at last.

They walk into the gymnasium to see an elderly man sitting in a wheel chair. Felipe walks up to him and hands him an inhaler. He holds it up to his mouth and breathes it in.

Alice runs up to Glenn and pulls him into a tight hug. He looks at her stunned before he hugs her back.

"You're okay!" She says into his shirt.

"They were never going to hurt me." He says for a fact.

T-Dog glares at Glenn. "We thought you were going to get eaten by dogs, man!"

Glenn looks into a corner where several chihuahuas are sitting on a zebra print bed. They growl and bare their teeth at T-Dog and Alice, but don't do anything more.

Rick pulls Guillermo aside into an empty room to discuss what just happened. Alice watches the old man get his breath back and begin to breathe normally. She walks over to Felipe who is kneeling by Mr. Gilbert.

"So you all take care of the elderly people?" She asks curiously.

"Yes. We came here to see the staff abandon everyone to die alone. Guillermo and I were the only ones to stay and take care of them. We... we thought they deserved better than to be left all alone in this world to die"

"That's so sweet of you". She leans down and kisses Felipe on the cheek. He instantly blushes but covers it up. ''I don't know a lot of people that would do that."

Rick clears his throat as a signal for the group to leave. The elderly wave goodbye as we walk out of the gymnasium. Alice looks at the bag of guns and realizes that it is smaller than before.

"What happened to the guns?" Alice asks while staring at Rick suspiciously.

"I split them half and half. They need them just as much as we do." He answers.

Daryl scoffs at Rick's decision but doesn't say anything. Alice nods understandably. From what Felipe told her, they need to protect the medicine and food. Anyone would be dying to get their hands on this place and she's sure they wouldn't care about the elderly like they do.

They exit the nursing home and are blinded by the sun. It takes several moments for their eyes to adjust. Rick grabs his sheriff hat from Glenn and places it on his head.

"Admit it, you just came back to Atlanta for the hat." Glenn says jokingly.

"Don't tell anybody." Rick jokes.

Daryl finally isn't able to hold in his opinion of what Rick did. "You gave away half of our guns and ammo."

Rick shakes his head. "Not nearly half."

"For what? A bunch of old farts who are going to die off momentarily anyways? Who knows how long the got!"

Alice glares at Daryl. "Who knows how long any of us got" Alice says sternly. She turns away from him and leads the group towards the place where they parked the van. Daryl stares after he for a couple of seconds before starting to walk after her.

They reach the tracks and see that the van is gone.

"Where's the hell our van?" Daryl yells.

"We left it right here! Who would take it?" Glenn says while looking around, hoping that they just forgot where they parked the van.

Alice gasps once she realizes who. Everyone's faces turn towards her for an explanation. All she can do is croak out one word. "Merle."

Daryl swears under his breath. "He's going to be taking some vengeance back to camp". The group takes off in a run towards the camp, hoping to get there before Merle does. They follow the tracks and the roads to get back to camp. The sun gets lower and lower into the sky. By the time they reach the outskirts of the camp, the sun has long set.

A scream echoes from the woods. "Oh god" Alice exclaims as the scream pierces her ears. She grabs her knife then runs into the woods towards the scream.

Walkers. There are walkers everywhere she looks. The ground is soaked with blood and people are lying everywhere with bites taken out of their bodies. She is so absorbed with the scene around her that she doesn't realize the walker behind her until it is almost on top of her.

The walker knocks her down then climbs on top of her. She lets out a squeal as she tries to hold its mouth back with one hand. Her other hand looks blindly around for her knife. It snarls and spits black goo on her shirt. Alice nearly breaks into tears of happiness when she feels the familiar object in the grass besides her. With one swift motion she propels the knife right through its forehead.

She is just about to get up and help the others, when she realizes she knows the walker. She would recognize that person anywhere. "Jackson?". Alice kneels over the body and wipes the dirt and blood from his face. Sure enough it is him. Silent tears stream from her eyes as she looks at her dead friend. "Oh, Jackson." She whispers.

She looks up to see a walker just about to launch on her. An arrow shoots into its head so fast that she didn't get a chance to scream. Alice looks behind her to see Daryl with his crossbow still raised. He grabs her arm and drags her towards the rest of the group by the camper. Dale looks at her relived, but doesn't stop shooting at the walkers that are starting to surround them.

One by one, the walkers fall down with bullets in their heads or occasionally Daryl's arrows. The only sound now is everyone's heavy breathing and Andrea's sobs. Alice turns around towards Andrea and sees Amy dead on the ground.

Alice feels her knees go weak and tears build up in her eyes. "This is too much. I can't handle this" she whispers to herself. She takes a step back but ends up tripping. Before she hits the ground, two strong arms keep her up. Alice doesn't bother to see who it is. She just turns into their chest and cries her eyes out. She cries for Jackson, Amy, and anyone else who died here.

Daryl watches Alice as she cries into his chest. Sure enough his shirt is going to be drenched by how much she is crying. He tries to console her as best as possible, but he never had much experience with anything like this so he just settles with standing still.

Dale walks up to the two and looks at his niece in concern. "Alice?". She doesn't respond. All she does is cry into Daryl's shirt. "Alice, is there anything I can do?"

Alice wipes the tears from her puffy, red eyes. She removes herself from Daryl's arms then stands up straight. She refuses to allow sadness overcome her more than it already has. "No, I will be fine." She says with a voice hoarse from crying.

"You sure? It's okay if you aren't." Dale says carefully, as if she will burst into tears at any moment.

"I'm fine." She says confidently. Dale looks unsure at her but Daryl nods, as if to tell him that he will take care of her. With that, Dale leaves with his gun to make sure the woods are clear.

"I'm... I'm sorry I got your shirt all wet." Alice says. She grimaces at the large wet stain on the front of his shirt.

Daryl just shrugs. At every sound he clenches his crossbow tighter and tighter in his hands. Everyone is on edge after the events of the past few hours. The sun is just starting to rise, giving them the opportunity to burn and bury the dead.

"We might as well get to taking care of the dead" Daryl says gruffly. He leaves Alice sitting on a log and then begins to hit the dead with a pickax in the head. Just as a precaution.

Dale walks up to Andrea. Her face glazes over as she stares at her dead sister's face. Dale leans next to her and quickly inhales when he sees Amy's body. "Andrea, I'm so sorry. She's gone. I'm sorry but she's gone. You got to let us take her. We all cared about her and I promise we will be as gentle as we can." He says gently. When he gets no response, he gets up to leave Andrea to her thoughts. Soon enough though, Amy will need to be taken care of. During the attack Amy was bit so she is bound to come back, but she won't be the Amy everyone knew and loved.

Daryl moves to another walker. He is just about to bring the pickax to the its head when Alice stops him. She kneels down next to the boy she knew as Jackson.

"Please Daryl, can we just let Jackson be?". Her blue eyes glisten with tears as she looks up at Daryl. He sighs and looks away before he caves in. She seems to always have that effect on everyone.

"You know we need to do this, to stop him from coming back." He reasons.

"But.. but I took care of him last night. Knife right through the head. Please, please just leave him be". She grabs Jackson's cold hand that used to be full of life. Even though she never had true romantic feelings towards Jackson and thought of him as more of a brother, she wishes that she could feel his warm lips against hers again. Anything to have Jackson back in her life.

"We have to make sure, now move." Daryl tries to say as nicely as possible but it comes out sounding very rude. When it becomes clear that she isn't going to let him, he holds the pickaxe towards her. "Do you want to do it?" He offers.

Alice's eyes widen. She grabs the pickaxe and mentally prepares herself to do this to her friend. She raises the pickaxe but stops mid swing. Alice kneels down and closes Jackson's eyes so it looks like he is just sleeping. Once again she raises the pick axe but this time follows through. The pick axe lodges itself in his head and she has to tear it out with force. She hits him one more time before handing the pick axe back to Daryl. He takes it silently and doesn't bother to ask how she knows the walker. He just leaves her be.

Rick stands next to his wife who is looking at Andrea with concern on her face. "She still won't move?"

Lori looks at Rick. "She's been there all night. She won't even talk to us. This isn't healthy. Someone needs to do something."

Rick nods. "I'll talk to her". Rick walks over to Andrea slowly, so that he doesn't startle her. "Andrea?"

She grabs her gun and cocks it. Without looking away from her sister, she points it at Rick. "I know how the safety works now."

He raises his hands up in defense and quickly begins backing away. "Alright. Sorry. Sorry." Rick walks back to his wife with a hopeless look on his face.

Daryl walks by with the bloody pickaxe dragging behind him. He takes one look at Andrea and groans. ''Y'all can't be serious. That dead girl is a time bomb".

Rick can't help but glare at Daryl. "What do you suggest, take the shot? Clean in the brain, from here?"

He just shrugs. "I can hit a turkey between the eyes from here. Hell, even Alice could do it if someone taught her how to use a damn gun."

"For gods sake leave her be" Lori says angrily just at the thought of someone shooting Amy while she is in Andrea's arms.

Daryl asks Morales to help him drag bodies. One after one they drag the dead bodies to burn later on, that is the only sure way that they will never come back.

Glenn looks at them wide-eyed. "What are you doing? That pile is for geeks,'' he points towards a spot where other bodies are in a pile then to a straight line near the RV, "that's where our people go."

"What's the difference, they're all infected." Daryl says indifferently, causing Glenn to cringe at how thoughtless he is.

"We don't burn them! We bury them!" Glenn practically yells. He takes in a shaky breath to calm himself. Glenn has to dig his nails into the palms of his hand to keep himself from yelling at Daryl. "Understand? Our people go in that row over there"

"You reap what you sow." Daryl says under his breath but Glenn still hears it.

"Shut up, man."

Daryl looks at Glenn in frustration. "Y'all left my brother for dead. You had this coming". Glenn's face goes bleach white and he quickly turns away to leave Daryl and Morales to their work. Even though Daryl disagrees with it, he puts the the bodies in the row like Glenn said.

Alice, Jacqui, and Jim are watching the work be done. They all try to help up as much as they can by cleaning up the campsite by picking up trash or other supplies that were lost during the attack. Alice glances up for a second and sees blood pooling around Jim's shirt.

"Are you bleeding?" She asks. Jacqui's head snaps up to see the same spot of blood.

Jim shakes his head quickly and nervously. "I just got some on me from the bodies." He lies.

"That blood is fresh." Alice persists.

Jacqui looks at Jim in fear. "Were you bit?"

"No! Just got scratched during the attack" he says while eyeing both of them nervously.

"You got bit" Jacqui says more forcefully this time.

"No!"

"Then show us" Alice says, trying to calm them both down before a fight starts. Jim's face turns to fear as he lifts his shirt to reveal a bite mark. Alice gasps loudly but quickly covers it up before people could turn around. She covers her mouth so that another sound can't get out.

"Don't tell them, please." Jim says desperately. Alice nods as a yes but Jacqui decides not to keep quiet.

"Jim is bit! He got bit during the attack!" She yells loudly.

A crowd starts to form around the group and Alice instantly moves to protect Jim. She feels like if people found out about the bite on her arm, they would've reacted the same way. She feels a duty to protect Jim.

Daryl walks up and glares at the space between Jim and Alice. He doesn't feel comfortable with her being that close to someone who is infected. "I say we put a pickaxe in his head. Him and the dead girl's head and just be done with it."

Alice glares at Daryl while pushing Jim further from the group. "Is that what you want someone to do if you were bit?" She growls.

"Yeah! And I would thank them for it."

Dale steps forward from the crowd. "I hate to say it, and I never thought I would, but Daryl is right." Alice's mouth falls wide open in shock. She can't believe that her uncle would say something like that. Rick shakes his head in anger.

"Jim's not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog that has to be put down. He's sick. He's a sick man." Rick says. He nods at Alice to show her that he is on her side.

Shane decides to speak up. "We start down that road, where do we draw the line? The line's pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers... or walkers to be".

"What if we can get him help?" Everyone looks at Rick like he is crazy. They have all seen the infection at its worst and do not see any way that they can help Jim. "I heard the C.D.C was working on a cure. What if it's still up and running?"

Shane steps closer to Rick so that he can hear him better. "Now that's a stretch right there."

Alice contemplates what Rick is proposing for a couple of seconds. She looks up at the group in hope. Daryl looks at her sparkling eyes in interest. Somehow, after all this has happened, she still has the same spark in her eyes.

"Maybe it's not as big of a stretch as you think? If there's any government left, it would be the C.D.C. They would protect it at all costs, right? I agree with Rick, I think it's our best shot." Alice says with such hope that even Jim feels optimistic about his future.

"Shelter, protection. You both want all those things, right? Trust me, I do too. Now if they exist then they are at an army base. Like Fort Benning" Shane tries to persuade the group. Several people nod with him but most are unsure which is the better choice.

Rick thinks about it for a minute before disregarding the idea. "But that's 100 miles in the opposite direction."

"That is right but it's away from the hot zone. Now listen to me. If that place is still operational, it will be heavily armed. We will be safe there."

"The military were on the first line of this thing. They got over run. We all saw that. The C.D.C's our best chance. Jim's only chance. You go look for some aspirin and do what you need to do." He directs the last part towards Jacqui. She quickly moves into the camper to find some medicine.

"Someone needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem" Daryl says. He then starts rushing towards Jim with the pickaxe. "Move, Alice." He growls when she protects Jim. Every way that he moves to get to Jim, she blocks him.

"We do not kill the living." She grits between her teeth. Her eyes shoot daggers towards him, and the intensity of her glare is enough to unsettle Daryl. Rick comes behind Daryl and points his gun straight at his head.

"Alice is right. We do not kill the living."

He laughs at the irony. "That's funny coming from a man with a gun pointed at my head."

"We may disagree on some things, but not this. You leave Jim be." Rick says sternly. Daryl backs away, all the while staring at Jim.

Alice breathes out in relief. She gives Jim a side hug in an attempt to calm him down. "Everything's going to be okay. Everything will be just fine. I know it". Alice doesn't know who she's trying to convince. Jim. Or herself.


	10. Chapter 10

Alice guides Jim into the RV and sets him down on the couch. Her heart breaks when she sees how defeated Jim looks.

"I want to show you something." She rolls up her sleeve to reveal the scar where her brother bit her several weeks ago. It is completely healed and is nothing but splotches and indents on her arm as a reminder of the event. "This happened many weeks ago and I didn't turn. Maybe this will be the same with you." Alice smiles softly.

Jim looks at the bite in shock but only shakes his head. "I don't think so. The fever is already coming on. I can feel it. I know I won't be lucky like you." Alice's hand shakes when she brings it to his forehead. Unlike her own forehead the days after she was bit, his is getting hotter by the second. It is almost terrifying.

Jacqui walks into the RV and Alice quickly covers up the scar on her arm.

Jacqui sighs when she sees the condition Jim is in. "I can take it from here. You should probably go out and calm Daryl down." She says with a bucket of water in her hand.

"Why me?"

She snorts. "In case you haven't noticed, sweetheart, he has a little soft spot in his heart for you. You're the only one here that he actually respects."

Alice blushes before letting Jacqui sit next to Jim. She takes a wet cloth and dabs his forehead. Jim sighs in relief from the small amount of coolness, but the small rag is not enough to cool down the fire raging inside.

Alice stands by the RV door. She wants to stay but she knows she will just get in Jacqui's way. "Do you need any help?" she asks.

"Like I said, honey, I can take it from here" Jacqui says with a small smile. Alice leaves the RV and back under the hot, Georgia sun. A truck is being piled with dead bodies to be buried. Daryl looks slightly upset with Shane, but it isn't the full blown argument that Jacqui made it out to be. Despite it not being what she thought it would be, Alice walks over to them to see what is wrong.

"I still think it's a mistake not burning the bodies. It's what we said we'd do, right? Burn 'em all. Wasn't that the idea?" Daryl yells.

Shane tilts his head to the side in thought. "At first."

Daryl continues on his rant. "Chinaman gets a little emotional, says it's not the thing to do, and we just follow along? These people need to know who the hell is in charge here. What the rules are."

Alice walks up to the truck and gives Shane a hand in piling bodies into the back. She holds back a sound of disgust when the body's hand flops on her. "There are no rules."

Daryl narrows his eyes at her. "And that's a problem"

"Daryl, you need to understand something here. We haven't had one minute to hold onto something of our old selves. We need time to mourn and bury the dead. That's what people do." Lori says critically. She glares at him from her spot by her husband's side.

Suddenly the sound of moaning reaches everyone's ears. They turn to see 'Amy' is just starting to wake up. She is trying to get a hold of Andrea who is still huddled over her crying. Andrea reaches for her gun and a loud bang fills the campsite. Once and for all, Amy is finally dead.

There is only a couple seconds of silence until everyone gets back to what they were doing before. Andrea cries softly into Amy's shirt, but nobody approaches her. Alice thinks about but decides that it might be best for Andrea to mourn by herself for a while.

"Now, I have to ask. Why are you so keen on protecting Jim? I saw the way you practically shielded his body back there." Daryl asks Alice. He glares at the RV suspiciously, as if he can see through the walls to Jim.

She looks around to see everyone else preoccupied with their own things. Shane and Lori are busy piling bodies into the truck while everyone else is cleaning up the campsite. Alice rolls up her sleeve to remind him of the bite on her arm. "This is hope for me. Hope that Jim will pull through and not change. Maybe not everyone who gets bit changes into a biter."

"No, everyone but you who gets bit by a geek changes. I have no clue why you aren't one of those mindless freaks by now. Maybe if there's people at the C.D.C. like Mr. Sheriff thinks, they will give ya an answer. But Jim isn't going to be like you." Without another word he jumps into the front of the truck and drives it towards the burial site.

A couple hours later the group is starting to get ready to leave to go to the C.D.C. Sometime between then the group has decided to go to the C.D.C. instead of the fort, but not everyone is going.

Morales and his family are standing next to a car with all of their stuff. They talked about it as a family a little while ago and they agreed that they want to split from the group. They figure that it will be best for them and they never liked the idea of the C.D.C. in the first place.

"Listen up, everyone!" Shane says loudly. "Those of you with C.B.'s, we're going to be on channel 40. Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now if you got a problem and no C.B., just honk your horn once and we'll all stop. Any questions?"

Morales clears his throat before speaking. "We're not going. We have family in Birmingham and want to be with our people"

Shane nods with understanding. "If you go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back."

"We'll take that chance. I have to do what's best for my family." He replies.

Shane heads back to a bag full of ammo. He grabs a box and gives it to Morales. "Box is half full."

Morales pulls him into a hug. "Good luck man."

"You too."

Shane pulls away and steps back. "Channel 40 if you change your minds." He wiggles the walkie talkie in his hand.

Everyone goes down the line and hugs each of the family. Even the little girl gives Sophia her doll to remember her by. The family gets into their car and moves out from the campsite. The group watches them until they are out of sight.

"Alright, let's move out!" Shane yells.

Each person files into their vehicle. Daryl takes his brother's motorcycle from the back of the truck and takes the lead. Dale follows suit with his RV. Everyone else follows.

Alice sits in the passenger seat right next to her uncle, Dale. "Do you think that there is anyone at the C.D.C.?"

He sighs but continues to look off onto the road. "I honestly don't know. I hope so, for Jim's sake." He glances back to Jim who is sweating like crazy. Every once in a while he mumbles out incoherent sounds and words that make no sense. It has become clear to Alice that Jim isn't going to recover like she somehow did.

"How are you holding up?" Dale eyes Alice carefully.

"I'm fine. Just had a moment back there but I'm good now."

Dale laughs but it doesn't have much enthusiasm. "Well it's a good thing you got yourself together when you did otherwise Daryl's shirt would've been soaking wet." Alice manages to crack a tiny smile.

The roar of an engine flies by as Daryl speeds up even faster down the road on his motorcycle.

"Who let him take the motorcycle? It's way to loud!" Alice exclaims. She can only imagine that every walker around heard it.

Dale just shakes his head. "It was his brother's. Didn't have the heart to say no. But, you know Daryl, he would've taken it anyways."

Alice nods once. She is just about to head back to Jim when the RV begins to slow down.

"No, no, no!" Dale says frantically as he twists the key and presses the gas pedal. He hits the steering wheel several times before accepting the fact that the RV is not going to go anytime soon. Dale presses the horn and the line of cars stop.

The RV rolls to a stop in the middle of the road. To their right is a patch of woods with who-knows-what roaming inside. Shane gets out of his car and walks angrily up to the RV. Dale steps out to check under the hood. He lifts up the hood to see what he was expecting all along.

"I told you we wouldn't go far on this hose." Dale says the the group now forming around him.

"Can you jury-rig it?" Shane asks impatiently.

"That's all it's been so far. It's more duct tape than hose and I'm out of duct tape"

Shane looks off into the horizon in annoyance. He sees a building just a couple miles up the road, but shields his eyes from the now setting sun to get a better look.

"I see something up ahead. A gas station if we're lucky... Hey, Rick. Can you hold down the fort while I drive ahead, see what we can bring back?"

Rick nods before taking his son, Carl back to the car. He sets him in the backseat to make sure Carl doesn't get in the way in case something happens. They are stuck on the middle of a road surrounded by woods. Anything could happen.

* * *

T-Dog and Daryl go with Shane to the gas station. They take the car up to the gas station just a couple miles up the road.

Several hours go by and the small group still hasn't came back. Everyone who stayed back are starting to get anxious.

Jacqui rushes out of the RV with a frantic look on her face. The nearly set sun sets dark shadows on her face and changes her once cheerful expression to a somber one. "Jim. It's bad. He's going to hurt himself the way he's flying about" she says in between breathes. What's left of the once large group rushes into the RV to see Jim having what Alice thinks is a seizure.

"Alice! Go bring the group back with something to help him. Maybe some medicine or at least some food. Here's the keys to the car" Rick hands her the keys to the car, forgetting that his son is in it. Alice nods then runs out of the RV.

She runs to the drivers side of the car and is just about to enter when she hears a low moaning sound. Her instincts kick in and she drops to the ground. Coming out of the woods is a walker. Alice unlocks the car and slips in. She knows that if there's one, there must be others. They always seem to travel in herds.

Carl wakes up from his nap and looks at her with groggy eyes. "What's happening?"

Alice's eyes grow wide when she sees Carl in the backseat. Though, it makes sense that he would be here since she hasn't seen him all day.

"Nothing, nothing. Hide under this blanket and don't make a noise" she hisses. Alice covers him with a plaid blanket to hide him in the backseat. His eyes widen when he sees the walker out of the car window. "I was going to take the car but it would make too much noise if there are others. I'm going to run to the gas station. You need to stay here. Don't move" she commands.

"Wait, I don't get why you can't just take the car"

"Because if there are more than one walker here, we could be overrun if the car makes enough noise" she says exhausted.

Carl opens his mouth to ask another question but thinks otherwise. She hands him the keys to the car. "Lock the door behind me and if something happens, yell like the devil himself is chasing you, okay?"

Carl nods carefully but his eyes are still wide with fear. Alice smiles a reassuring smile and messes up his hair. "You will be fine if you're quiet and hidden".

She exits the car and once she closed the door behind her, it locks. Alice stays down as she runs past the walker, who fortunately is looking the other way. Being a not very smart creature, it didn't turn around when Alice ran like the speed of lighting right behind it.

The sound of Jim's yells fill the air. More walkers start coming out of the woods just as Alice predicted. Up ahead several walkers are starting towards Alice. She swerves around them as fast as she can. Her feet propel her faster and faster once she realizes that walkers are chasing after her. The gas station seems to be so far away and she just can't seem to get there fast enough.

Once her heart and lungs feel like they are about to give out, she is at the glass doors of the gas station. Inside she sees Shane, Daryl, and T-Dog rummaging through the counter. Alice rushes through the door and up to the group. She is so out of breath that they don't understand a word that she has been saying.

"Walkers... followed... me... Jim... is worse"

Their eyes widen and they go up to the glass door. Sure enough the walkers that were chasing Alice are making their way towards the door. They are slow but they sure are steady.

"Let's get out of here!". They grab what they need and head to the car just outside. They get into the car and rev up the loud engine, guiding even more walkers towards them.

"We can't lead them back to the group!" Alice exclaims.

"Well what do you suggest we do!" Daryl yells.

Shane looks reluctantly towards the RV. His knuckles clench the steering wheel so tight that they're white. "She's right we can't!". He pushes onto the gas and runs over several walkers. They go over each one like speed bumps. He continues to go in circles and running over walkers until there are none of them are left standing. By the time it is over, Daryl, T-Dog, and Alice are clinging onto the sides of the car for dear life.

"What the hell was that!" T-Dog screams.

"I got the job done!" Shane says angrily. He gets out of the car and stabs each and every walker in the head.

"Is it just me or do you guys think Shane is going off the deep end" Daryl whispers to T-Dog and Alice. They only nod silently. All of their hands are still gripping the side of the car by the time Shane gets back in.

"What?" he raises an eyebrow at each one of them.

Alice is the first one to recover. "Shane, are you... feeling upset? Is it something you want to talk about?" she asks kindly. Shane only scowls at her and drives back towards the RV.

Rick and Lori get out of the RV and look at the crushed walkers in the distance. Their mouths drop open and they search the small group for answers. Shane pushes past the couple into his own secluded spot. Ever since he fought with Lori, he has been on edge.

Alice rushes up to Rick for answers. "How is Jim?"

"He's fine now. He just had to get over the seizure". Alice's face contorts into anger. She is pretty pissed that she just ran several miles while being chased by walkers. All for the group to just come back so they can all fiddle their thumbs together. She was hoping that bringing the group back will help Jim somehow. Alice glares at Rick before pushing past him. He grabs her arm before she could walk away to far.

"Have you seen Carl?"

"I left him in the car" she grumbles.

Rick's eyes widen. "I looked in there and he wasn't there". Carol comes rushing out of the RV and looking wildly around her.

"Where's Sophia" she says in terror. Daryl overheard the conversation and is now making his way to calm Carol down.

Right when they were about to start a search party, the two children come crawling out of the woods with flashlights and a gun. Rick grabs the gun from Carl with such force that it frightens him. Sophia's face lights up when she see Alice. She runs and grabs her legs.

"We were so worried when we saw you run down the street. There were walkers chasing you. We wanted to make sure you were safe" Sophia mumbles into Alice's shirt. Alice wraps her arms around Sophia to comfort her.

Alice pulls Sophia out to arm distance and scolds her with a stern voice. "Don't you ever wander off like that without telling anyone, ever again. Alright? Both of you terrified us. We thought something happened to you". Sophia nods before join her mother who is almost crying in relief. Carol just lost her husband to a walker, she doesn't want to lose her daughter.

Rick and Lori drag Carl with them into the RV, leaving Daryl and Alice alone. She sighs before getting Dale's gun and climbing up on top of the RV.

"What are ya doing?" Daryl calls curiously. He climbs up to the top of the RV to join Alice

"Taking watch. There might be more walkers"

He looks at her in doubt. "What use will it be if you don't even know how to fire a gun"

Alice sets her face into a hard determined look. "I'll figure it out"

Daryl chuckles a little. He enjoys watching Alice. She doesn't seem to see how amusing it is to Daryl. To him, she is always trying to prove something to people, and in some way she has to. People around here like to baby her and treat her like a doll. They don't see how much it angers her.

"Here, I'll teach you" he says gruffly. Before she could refuse, Daryl called down to the people in the RV to warn them that he is teaching Alice how to shoot. He takes the gun from her tiny hands and looks at it for a couple seconds. Alice has no clue how he knew, but Daryl knew that the gun had some ammo left.

"Now the most important part of learning how to shoot a gun to to understand that you never load a gun if you don't intend to use it. Since in this day of age I will just assume whenever you load a gun, it is to take out one of those dead sons of bitches. Now, keep your legs far apart and square off your shoulders". Alice quietly does as she's told. Daryl examines her stance for a couple seconds before nodding in approval.

"Raise the gun towards that tree way back there. See it? Now rest your cheek on the stock of the rifle"

She turns to Daryl in surprise, breaking her stance that she had before. "Won't the gun recoil and hit me in the face?"

"Just trust me on this, Alice. Now back into position". Alice reluctantly does as she's told and sets her cheek on the stock of the rifle. "Aim for that tree that I told you about"

Alice adjusts the gun so that it is aimed straight at the tree. "Now get your damn breathing out of control. You're acting like you're running a marathon" Daryl scolds.

She glares at him but doesn't break her stance this time. "It's kind of hard when this is my first time shooting a gun"

"Just quite breathing so fast and relax"

Alice slows down her breathing to a deep, rhythmic, breath. "Almost there. I already turned the safety off so you don't have to worry about that. Slowly squeeze the trigger while you release your breath"

She takes a deep breath and lets it out. Her finger lightly squeezes the trigger of the rifle just like Daryl told her. Sure enough the bullet was shot out of the gun and straight into the tree. Alice is pushed back violently by the recoil, but caught just in time by Daryl.

"Nice catch" she says silently. Once he sets her on her feet, her face breaks into a huge smile. "I just shot my first gun!"

Daryl can't help but grin a little at her expression. She looks like child during Christmas. She practices shooting the gun several more times before taking watch with Daryl. Together they watched over the camp until the sun.


End file.
